Robust hierarchical nanocomposite coating with synergistic electro-photothermal and superhydrophobicity for ice mitigation

The superhydrophobic coatings with electrothermal and photothermal effects have gained significant attention as a promising frontier in aeronautical anti/de-icing research. In this work, a novel synergistic electrothermal, photothermal and superhydrophobic coating with mechanical durability and a multi-stage structure was prepared using solution spraying. This flexible coating with three layers integrated both passive anti-icing and active deicing capabilities. The superhydrophobic coating exhibited outstanding non-wettability with a measured WCA exceeding 156.2° and a SA of 3.8°. The coating delayed ice formation to 1420 s and exhibited a relatively low ice adhesion strength of 25.30 ± 2.65 kPa at −15 °C, demonstrating excellent long-term anti-icing performance. The active-passive hybrid strategy demonstrates effective ice mitigation capabilities with enhanced thermal performance and reduced electrical power demand. The temperature elevated beyond 99.36 °C at an electrical power input of 1.6 kW∙m⁻² under 1.0 sun illumination. Compared to the single electrothermal coating, the integrated electro-photothermal superhydrophobic coating achieved a 33.6% higher temperature rise. Furthermore, the coating demonstrated excellent self-cleaning capability, robust mechanical durability, and remarkable chemical stability. The coating still retained robust superhydrophobicity after 200 cycles of sandpaper abrasion, 100 cycles of adhesive tape peeling, 2 h of water droplet impact, or 24 h of immersion in corrosive solution. In this work, a scalable multilayer coating was fabricated with a more balanced combination of passive anti-icing capability, active deicing performance, and robust durability, showing promising potential for practical engineering applications.