Reduction of atomistic ice tensile stress by graphene–carbon nanotube coating

The accumulation of ice has adverse effects on human activities on the ground and in the air while the dynamic mechanism of the interaction force between the ice and wall surface has not been fully explored. Herein, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are conducted to investigate the underpinning physics of ice adhesion at the molecular level. The graphene and carbon nanotube junctions (G-CNTs) are proposed for the first time to be sandwiched between the ice and the hydrophilic (i.e., silver and copper) and hydrophobic (i.e., silicon) substrates. The results show that the ice adhesion stresses on these three substrates can be reduced by 91.80%, 91.59% and 58.75% due to the geometrical structure, buckling phenomenon and hydrophobicity of the G-CNTs, respectively, and the reduction can be further strengthened when there is a water lubrication layer. This work sheds light on the design of the icephobic wall surface and the development of de-icing techniques.