Composite Superhydrophobic Surfaces with Optical/Electrical Properties can Achieve Efficient Ice Prevention

To address the issue of safety operation being affected by surface icing on wind turbine blades in extremely cold environments, this paper employs a spraying technique to prepare a de‐icing coating. This coating utilizes a PDMS base material (0.1 g) + curing agent (0.01 g) and PVDF (0.5 g) as the organic bonding framework, doped with functional particles including GPE (0.65 mg), MWCNTs (25 mg), and modified SiO2 (0.25 g), ultimately enabling the conversion of light and electrical energy into thermal energy. This coating exhibits excellent superhydrophobic properties, with a contact angle of approximately 167.0° and a sliding angle of about 4.0°. Under conditions of photothermal heating and electrothermal heating, the surface temperature of the coating can rapidly rise to high levels of approximately 68.0°C and 48.5°C within 200 and 150 s, respectively. The water droplet freezing experiments and de‐icing experiments demonstrate that the coating can significantly delay the freezing time of liquid droplets, reduce the adhesion strength of ice, and exhibit excellent de‐icing capabilities under the action of light and electrical current. Additionally, various durability tests, including acid‐alkali immersion and friction‐wear tests, are conducted on the coating to prove its outstanding stability and durability.