A polydimethylsiloxane coating with excellent large-scale deicing property and durability

The icing on wind turbine blades and aircraft poses major challenges to energy production and aviation safety. Traditional icephobic coatings, while showing some promise for applications, are still limited by deficiencies, including poor anti-icing efficiency, susceptibility to failure and inadequate durability. Herein, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating based on low-interfacial toughness was successfully prepared on aluminum plates. Fortunately, the PDMS coating is capable of achieving effective and long-lasting deicing on both large and small scales. Unlike the traditional icephobic coatings, whose deicing force increases linearly with icing area, the PDMS coating demonstrates superior large-scale deicing performance, with the deicing force controlled by low interfacial toughness and remaining constant. Furthermore, the PDMS coating also exhibits remarkable deicing durability, withstanding 120 icing/deicing cycles while maintaining a constant deicing force within 50 N/cm and an ice adhesion strength of about 30 kPa, significantly outperforming the icephobic coatings. The prepared PDMS coating possesses exceptional large-scale and small-scale deicing capabilities, coupled with outstanding durability, holding substantial potential for application on wind turbine blades and aircraft.