Application of Carbon Nanotube Coatings in Anti-Icing of Wind Turbine Blades: A Brief Review

To meet practical needs such as anti-icing for wind turbine blades, carbon nanotube coatings (CNTCs)—known for their excellent mechanical properties, high strength, and high thermal conductivity—have emerged as a research hotspot in the field of coating materials and represent a promising option for such applications. Outlines the key properties and mainstream preparation processes of CNT coatings, and provides an objective evaluation of research on their primary properties based on existing findings. Furthermore, to satisfy the comprehensive performance requirements of coatings in practical application scenarios, this paper proposes a property-balancing method for CNTCs specifically tailored to the anti-icing field of wind turbine blades. This method enables the coatings to fully satisfy the practical performance requirements in terms of strength and hydrophobicity, and avoids cost waste caused by excessive single performance beyond actual demands. It is expected to provide a reference for the application of CNTCs in related fields.