Ice-resistant surface with three dimensional spherical halloysite aerogel: Construction and anti-icing mechanism

Abstract A novel 3D microsphere fabricated with halloysite nanotubes was reported in our previous work. The hollow tubular structure in nano-scale of halloysite and the hollow structure in micro-scale of microsphere have attracted our attention. In this paper, phase change materials (methylmyristate and n-dodecane) were loaded in the spaces for the construction of anti-icing surface, and the related behavior and mechanism were investigation. The anti-icing performance of slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPSs) were characterized by ice adhesion strength, freezing temperature and ice nucleation rate. The results showed that the phase change materials loaded in anti-icing coating eliminated the possibility of water vapor condensation in porous structure, greatly reduced the probability of nucleation on a concave surface, thus showed better anti-icing effect. Phase change materials play an important role in supercooling, effectively increasing the substrate temperature by 5.4 °C. Phase change anti-icing coating is a kind of functional material with great development potential.