Compare study between icephobicity and superhydrophobicity

Although surface microstructures is the key to superhydrophobicity, and possibly leads to significant icephobicity when a water droplet freezes on superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS), thermodynamic mechanisms responsible for the icephobicity and anti-icing still need to be further studied. For this reason, we established the relationships between some quantities, i.e., contact angle (CA) together hysteresis (CAH), adhesion work and the microstructures by a three-dimension (3-D) surface model, and theoretically explained the anti-icing and icephobicity from the SHS. Our theoretical and experimental study indicate, the adhesion work (W-ai) of a frozen water droplet to the SHS in composite wetting state (CWS) is apparently less than that in the non-composite wetting state (NCWS). Therefore it is necessary to create such CWS by designing surface micro/nanostructure. Further study also shows, the adhesion work (W-aw) of a water droplet to the SHS is larger than that (W-ai) of their frozen, thus implying decrease of the adhesion work after icing. This will improve on the understanding of the SHS for anti-icing and icephobicity.