Robust self-healing superhydrophobic coating for anti-icing

Superhydrophobic surfaces are prone to structural damage and degradation of low-surface-energy substances, which significantly affects their long-term stability and performance in anti-/de-icing applications. Inspired by the self-recovery capability of lotus leaves, a migration of low-surface-energy substance-mediated self-healing superhydrophobic coating was fabricated by spraying a mixture of silicone nanofilaments (Si NFs), liquid paraffin-loaded hollow silica microspheres (LP/H-MPs), trimethoxy (1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-heptadecafluorodecyl) silane (TMHFDS), and epoxy resin (E51). The coating demonstrated significant robustness, achieving a hardness of 2H and outstanding superhydrophobicity, characterized by a water contact angle (CA) exceeding 161° and a sliding angle (SA) below 2°. The preserved liquid paraffin also endowed the hybrid coating with a self-healing ability. Consequently, when the surface is mechanically damaged or chemically degraded, the superhydrophobicity can rapidly recover upon heating at 200 °C, and the self-healing is repeatable. After nine cycles of O 2 plasma etching and self-healing, the coating maintained its liquid repellency, with a significant CA exceeding 164°. When exposed to a cold, high-humidity atmosphere, the self-healing superhydrophobic coating significantly delayed ice formation to 1105 s, enabling frost prevention. The synergistic effects of its robustness, superhydrophobicity, and self-healing properties indicate that the as-prepared self-healing superhydrophobic coating has great potential in wind power generation, transportation, and other fields.