Durable fluorine-free multilayer superhydrophobic coatings for synergistic photothermal and electrothermal anti-icing protection

Superhydrophobic coatings are promising for anti-icing applications, but traditional fluorinated coatings pose environmental risks and lack all-weather effectiveness. To address these challenges, we developed a novel fluorine-free modification of resin-based powder coatings for fabricating superhydrophobic surfaces. A two-layer anti-icing protective coating system was proposed. The surface layer, enhanced with TiN nanoparticles, provides excellent abrasion resistance and photothermal properties, while the underlying electrothermal layer, composed of carbon fibers and graphene, forms a three-dimensional conductive network that promotes electron transport, significantly improving the coating's conductivity. This design integrates photo-thermal and electro-thermal synergistic de-icing mechanisms, achieving all-weather anti-icing functionality. The resulting superhydrophobic coating exhibits a contact angle of 155° ± 1.5°, a roll-off angle of 1.5° ± 0.5°, and an ice adhesion strength of <20 kPa. Additionally, the coating demonstrates excellent photothermal and electrothermal properties, with the surface temperature reaching 81.9 °C under 1.00 Sun solar intensity and 98 °C at 16 V. The dual-layer structure, combined with the synergistic effect of low-surface-energy resin and TiN fillers, ensures exceptional mechanical durability. To further validate the coating's performance, we simulated temperature distributions under various conditions using Origin software for data fitting and interpolation. The simulation results showed strong agreement with experimental data, yielding a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.98. This work provides a promising solution for the practical application of superhydrophobic coatings, highlighting their potential to deliver efficient anti-icing and de-icing performance in diverse environmental scenarios.