Coating

Structural engineering

Engineering

Composite material

Pulley

Materials science

Soft Matter

Slide-ring crosslinked polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is designed and prepared for anti-icing/deicing applications. Compared with the covalent crosslinks, the slidable crosslinks enhance the mobility of polymer networks and endow the materials with low elastic modulus. The PDMS matrix guarantees the hydrophobicity of as-prepared coatings. These properties synergistically lead to ultra-low ice adhesion strength (13.0 ± 1.3 kPa) and excellent mechanical durability. The ice adhesion strength on the coating maintains a value of ∼12 kPa during 20 icing/deicing cycles, and increases gradually to a value of ∼22 kPa after 800 cycles of abrasions. The novel design strategy provides one-step forward to anti-icing/deicing solutions for targeted applications.

An ultra-durable icephobic coating by a molecular pulley