An anti-icing textile employed in polar tent through thermal and electrical energy conversion

Anti-icing textiles were of great significance for outdoor research and exploration activities in polar environments. However, existing anti-icing textiles often fail to achieve the requirement for efficient thermal conversion under the extreme low-temperature conditions of the polar regions, which limited their practical applications. To address this challenge, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and MXene nanosheets were synergistically loaded onto the polylactic acid (PLA) nonwoven fabric fiber network via redox deposition and impregnation coating techniques. Subsequently, the surface was modified with 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane (FAS) to construct an anti-icing textile with efficient thermal conversion. The test results indicated that the modification with FAS significantly reduced the surface free energy of the textile and endowed it with superhydrophobicity (WCA = 151.5°). It can delay freezing for 90.1 min at −5 °C, and even under extremely cold condition at −20 °C, it can still delay freezing for 7.3 min. The uniform distribution of Ag@MXene endows the textile with excellent electrical conductivity ( R  = 2.84 Ω) and photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE = 87.4 %). Under a constant voltage of 3 V, the temperature stabilized at 76.5 °C, and it can completely melt an ice layer with a thickness of 0.5 cm within 361 s. Under solar radiation with an intensity of 100 mW•cm −2 , the surface temperature of the textile can reach 71.2 °C, and it can rapidly melt a 10 μL ice droplet completely within 40 s. In addition, this textile also features excellent antibacterial rate, self-cleaning property, acid and alkali resistance, as well as good mechanical properties. Its degradable PLA base material, in coordination with multi-functional carriers, provided a new idea for the development of polar tents.