Preparation of photothermal superhydrophobic iron foam coating and its application in passive anti-icing/active de-icing and anti-corrosion

The accumulation of ice on surfaces can cause numerous safety issues and inconveniences to human life, so there is an urgent need for a simple and effective anti-icing/de-icing solution. In this work, photothermal superhydrophobic foam iron surfaces with multilevel micro-nano-structures were prepared using a combination of chemical etching and surface modification methods. At −15 °C, the photothermal superhydrophobic surface can delay the freezing time of the droplet from 221 s on the original surface to 1220 s. The surface exhibits a favorable photothermal effect, with the temperature rising to 55.8 °C in 240 s when exposed to outdoor sunlight. Furthermore, ice can be rapidly melted in 251 s when illuminated with 0.2 W/cm 2 . The superhydrophobic photothermal surface also exhibits excellent mechanical stability, retaining its superhydrophobicity following sandpaper abrasion cycles and water flow impact experiments. It is noteworthy that the superhydrophobic photothermal surface exhibits enhanced electrochemical anti-corrosion performance relative to the original surface. These findings substantiate the assertion that the prepared photothermal superhydrophobic iron foam surface not only demonstrates effective anti-icing and de-icing capabilities, but also exhibits superior mechanical durability and chemical stability. The straightforward, efficient, and low-cost approach for the synthesis of photothermal superhydrophobic coatings holds considerable promise for potential applications.