Electrospun nanofibre membrane based transparent slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces with icephobic properties

Icephobic surfaces have attracted increasing attention due to their wide ranging application areas from wind and solar energy systems to aviation. Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) are being explored for passive ice protection due to their lower ice adhesion strength. In this study, we present a cost-effective and scalable electrospinning technique to produce freestanding nanofibrous polymeric surfaces for the fabrication of transparent icephobic SLIPS. The diameter of the electrospun fibres produced varied from 200 to 400 nm and the membranes had a theoretical porosity of 71.6 ± 4.1%. Furthermore, three different lubricants polychlorotrifluoroethylene oil (PcTFE), silicone oil and liquid paraffin, were used and it was observed that when silicone oil and PcTFE were used as lubricants for SLIPS, they provided high optical transparency (>90%) in the visible light spectrum compared to PVDF-co-HFP itself. All SLIPS were subjected to centrifugal ice adhesion testing which revealed their ice adhesion strengths lower than 1 KPa with significant delay in droplet icing compared to aluminum reference, from 5 up to 41 s. The results indicated that enhanced icephobic properties of electrospun membranes have been clearly demonstrated.