Icephobic Property on Multiscale Flexible Structures

Abstract

A kind of soft micro-ratchet / nano-rods structure surface was fabricated by intergrating the methods of soft-lithography and crystal growth,which realized low adhesion and icephobic properties in low temperature environment. The droplet could be driven off before it freezes by the deformation of micro-ratchet. The results indicate that the bend effect changes the three phase contact line and generates droplet-driven performance with different bend angles. The dent effect increases the three phase contact line and increases the difficulty for driving droplet. While,the raised effect decreases the three phase contact line and decreases the adhesion force between liquid and solid,which makes the droplet off the surface easily with the effect of gravity. This special structure has real potential in icephobic field.