Ice adhesion mechanism on lubricant-impregnated surfaces using molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract

ABSTRACTIce formation causes numerous problems in many industrial fields as well as in our daily life. The control of ice nucleation and rational design of anti-icing surface with low ice adhesion are desirable in various industries such as aircraft, power line, ships, building, and cryopreservation. However, despite considerable attention in the development of ice or water-repellent surfaces, it is still challenging to design icephobic or anti-icing surfaces with high resistance to icing. In this study, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation is utilised to investigate the ice adhesion mechanism on lubricant-infused nanotextured surfaces. Using steered molecular dynamics simulation, we find that the adhesion strength of ice on nanotextured surfaces impregnated with lubricant films to be higher compared to that on textured surfaces in presence excess lubricant films. We illustrate that the ice adhesion strength depends on the texture density and the ice adhesion strength increases with nanoposts density. Lubricant-impregnated surfaces (LISs) with higher posts density exhibit greater adhesive interaction energy due to the large contact area between the icecube and the textured surface. This systematic study enhances our understanding of ice adhesion mechanism on LISs which can apply for designing novel anti-icing surfaces with extremely weak ice adhesion strength.