Efficiently all-weather anti-icing and de-icing coatings enabled by polyaniline microcapsules encapsulated phase change materials

Abstract

Photothermal superhydrophobic coatings are one of the most promising anti-icing/de-icing materials. However, the intermittence of light energy limits the application of photothermal energy conversion technologies when continuous de-icing is required. Herein, an innovative solution for the integration of photothermal effect and phase change thermal storage was proposed. In this work, an efficient anti-icing/de-icing coating was successfully fabricated based on multifunctional polyaniline microcapsule encapsulating butyl stearate (BS). Benefiting from the heat storage capacity of BS in the microcapsule, the coating could achieve all-weather anti-icing capability. Under the condition of −20 °C, the freezing time of water droplets on the coating with only 10 wt% microcapsules was delayed by about 12.6 times compared to the blank coating. At the same time, under simulated dark conditions, the freezing time of water droplets could be delayed by about 14.1 times. Moreover, owing to the thermal conductivity and high solar energy exploitation, polyaniline endowed the coating with outstanding photothermal de-icing performance, presenting the superiority of outdoor applications. Under NIR (200 mW/cm2) illumination, the melting time of water droplets was reduced to 18 s, which was nearly 10 times faster than that on the blank coating. Moreover, the polyaniline microcapsules also possessed outstanding anticorrosion property, which was particularly attractive for mental coating applications. The combined properties of this all-weather anti-icing and de-icing coating could render it a promising contender for challenging outdoor applications.