Magnetic particle-based super-hydrophobic coatings with excellent anti-icing and thermoresponsive deicing performance

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were introduced as the heat mediators in a superhydrophobic coating for anti-icing and deicing performance in this article. The fluorinated copolymer tethered epoxy groups were synthesized and mixed with amino modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and then crosslinked with diethylenetriamine to obtain novel multifunctional magnetic hybrid coatings. The compositions, morphologies, surface microstructure and wettability performance of the hybrid coatings were systematically investigated by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and water contact angle (WCA) measurements. The target coatings exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity and wetting stability driven by the formation of micronano hierarchical surface roughness covered with fluorinated groups. The low temperature (-15 C, RH: 50 5%) WCA showed that the superhydrophobic surface could delay the freezing time from 50 s to 2878 s. And the ice adhesion strength was significantly lower than that of a pure copolymer coating. More importantly, the outstanding photothermy and magnetothermal effects of the magnetic particles endowed the coatings with long time icing delay and thermal deicing properties. The fabricated multifunctional superhydrophobic surfaces with excellent anti-icing and active deicing properties will be promising for practical applications.