Facile and scalable fabrication of high water absorption composite electrothermal porous ceramics for electrothermal de-icing

De-icing represents a significant of application areas for electrothermal materials. However, the primary focus is on the heating performance of electric heating materials, but the ability of materials to handle liquids is rarely mentioned. Consequently, developing a electrothermal material that can simultaneously exhibit liquid-conducting and de-icing capabilities represents a novel research direction. Silica porous ceramics (porosity, water absorption, oil absorption in the ranges of 62 %, 123 %, and 143 %, respectively) were prepared using the sacrificial template method with glass powder and diatomaceous earth as raw materials and PMMA and starch as pore-forming agents. Continuous conductive film networks of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) are prepared inside the silica porous ceramics by dip-coating method. By controlling the times of dip-coating, the electrical conductivity of the composites was modulated, the minimum resistance is 9.52 Ω mm. The material has merit electric heating ability, which can be heated from room temperature to 210 °C at 3 V DC in 35 s. Furthermore, the porous ceramic material retained good liquid passage properties after dip-coating with the conductive film. The developed electrothermal porous ceramic materials have the potential for application in the field of electrothermal de-icing.