The status of wind power in China's energy structure has risen to the third place, but 54% of unit downtime is caused by icing. For this reason, it is very important to carry out anti-icing work on wind turbine blades to ensure the safe operation of wind turbines. In prior research, scientists frequently utilized PTFE, PVDF, and polypyrrole polymers to produce hydrophobic coatings in order to address the icing issue of wind turbine blades. The drawbacks of these coatings included their high cost, lack of durability and biodegradability. To overcome the shortcomings of current methods, the work aims to introduce a robust superhydrophobic coating with exceptional durability, a straightforward preparation process, and significant anti-icing capabilities. It is designed to fulfill the outdoor operational demands of wind turbine blades. Additionally, the impact of four different TiO2 particle sizes on various properties of the coating was explored, including its linear abrasion resistance, acid and alkali resistance, anti-icing characteristics, and icing bond strength. Then, the comprehensive analysis was carried out to provide technical insights for preventing ice accumulation on wind turbines in icing-prone regions. Micro-nano composite superhydrophobic coating was developed with TiO2 nanoparticles and poly (aspartate) polyurea (PAE polyurea), and its mechanical stability and anti-icing performance were tested. The effect of the coating on ice coverage delay was examined during the freezing procedure. TiO2 particles of 100 nm exhibited a contact angle of 162.4° and a rolling angle of 3.8°, and the anti-icing performance and mechanical stability of the samples were better. The superhydrophobic coatings prepared by 100, 200, and 500 nm TiO2 still maintained good superhydrophobicity after 250 linear friction tests and the superhydrophobic coatings prepared by 1 µm TiO2 maintained a certain degree of hydrophobicity. The superhydrophobic coatings retained their excellent superhydrophobicity even after being immersed in acidic, neutral, and alkaline solutions for extended period. However, both acidic and alkaline solutions were corrosive to the coatings, and the alkaline solution had a relatively greater impact on the superhydrophobic performance of the samples with stronger corrosive effects. In the static anti-icing and dynamic anti-icing tests, the freezing time of water droplets showed a gradual increase with the further increase of TiO2 particle size. The superhydrophobic coating, featuring a particle size of 100 nm, boasted a maximum contact angle of 162.4° and a rolling angle of 3.8°, exhibiting superior superhy drophobicity and anti-icing performance. In the ice-adhesion strength test, the ice-binding power of superhydrophobic coating samples increased as temperature plummeted, but remained inferior to that of uncoated samples. In the wind farm anti-icing test, the superhydrophobic coated wind turbines operated for an average of 705 min during one day of freezing rain, which was 255 min more than that of blank wind turbines, and for a 2 MW unit, this was equivalent to generating about 8 500 kW·h of additional electricity. Compared with the preparation cost, the superhydrophobic coating had a high economic benefit value. The robust superhydrophobic coatings prepared in this work have excellent hydrophobicity, mechanical stability and anti-icing performance, which are of some reference value for the study of superhydrophobic coatings and their practical application on wind turbine blades. © 2024 Chongqing Wujiu Periodicals Press. All rights reserved.
