[nanoPost] Biomimetic ice nucleating coatings

Research Centre Denmark

Ice repellent surfaces are of great interest for a wide variety of applications including the continuous production of ice cream or the use of ice slurries as environmental friendly coolants as well as the protection of many outdoor surfaces. When covered with ice, airplane wings and wind turbine blades loose efficiency and optical sensors loose sight. Based on organisms living in polar or mountainous regions, a biomimetical model for ice nucleating surfaces will be presented and the difference between ice nucleating and freezing point depressing surfaces, both strategies applied by nature to survive cold environments, will be outlined.

The active principle of combining a hydrophobic surface with nanoscaled hydrophilic nucleation points could be converted to novel coatings, where the formation of ice crystals is encouraged, but then these crystals are easily removed by an air or water stream.