On Fundamentals of Icephobic Surfaces

Anti-icing surfaces play a critical role in human daily lives in cold climates by impacting a broad range of systems including infrastructures, transportation network and power generation systems. Icing in electricity transmission systems can lead to collapse of poles and towers and rupture of conductors. Icing in aircrafts results in increased drag and may lead to loss of lift force and potential catastrophic events. Icing in energy systems significantly drops the heat transfer rate leading to inefficient operation of these systems.

Non-wetting, liquid-infused and hydrated surfaces have inspired routes for development of anti-icing surfaces. However, high freezing temperature, high ice adhesion strength (~50-100 kPa) and subsequent ice accretion, low mechanical durability, and high production cost have restricted their practical applications. The goal of this talk is to elucidate the underlying nano-scale physics of ice formation and adhesion on surfaces which involves studies of thermodynamics, heat transfer and mechanics of solid-ice interfaces.