Dynamic Anti-Icing Performance of Flexible Hybrid Superhydropohobic Surfaces

Normal superhydrophobic surfaces with a rough topographyprovidepocketed air at the solid-liquid interface, which guides thedroplet to easily detach from the surface at room temperature. However,at low temperatures, this function attenuates obviously. In this research,a flexible hybrid topography with submillimeter (sub-mm) and microconearrays is designed to adjust the impacting behavior of the droplet.The sub-mm cone could provide rigid support to limit deformation,leading to reduced energy consumption during impact processes. However,the microcone could maintain surface superhydrophobicity under differentconditions, preventing droplet breakage and the change of the dropletcontact state during impact processes by providing multiple contactpoints. Under the synergistic effect, such a hybrid structure couldprovide much more pocket air at the solid-liquid interfaceto limit the spreading of liquid droplets and reduce the energy lossduring the impact process. At a low temperature (-5 & DEG;C),even if the impact height is reduced to 1 cm, the droplets still couldbe bound off, and the hybrid superhydrophobic surface presents excellentdynamic anti-icing ability. The special flexible hybrid superhydropohobicsurface has potential application in fast self-cleaning and anti-icingfields.