Weng Wei, Yu Yueying, Naito Masanobu
Research Center for Macromolecules and Biomaterials, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan.
Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan.
Langmuir. 2025 Jul 22;41(28):18741-18753. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c01983. Epub 2025 Jul 12.
As an attempt to combine antifreeze and superhydrophobicity, propylene glycol (PG) is encaged in a porous superhydrophobic skeleton composed of ZnO tetrapods and polydimethylsiloxane. At room temperature, the PG-infused skeleton presents a large contact angle, a small sliding angle, and good repellency against impacting water drops, while it effectively defers frost emergence and growth in humid and cooling conditions. The PG-infused skeleton delays the frost onset 6 and 18 times longer than the superhydrophobic skeleton and silicone oil-infused skeleton, respectively. Moreover, it can repeatedly serve as a frost-deterrent surface up to 10 times without replenishment and is durable under frosting/defrosting cycles. The merits are ascribed to the nonaffinity between glycol and the skeleton, the humidity sink effect, and self-secretion of glycol out of the skeleton under cooling. The former lets the surface asperities of the skeleton be exposed. And the latter imparts good anti-icing, antifrosting, and deicing performance to the PG-infused skeleton. The work provides insights into liquid-infused surfaces and ice-phobic surfaces.
