Design and application of multifunctional, non-wetting smart surfaces

In this thesis I present the design of hydrophobic hybrid inorganic-organic coatings via Lotus leaf-like and Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS) approaches with anti-wetting performance in cold environments. In the temperature range from -10 to 0°C, a maintenance of a low water contact angle hysteresis (<15°) for all the SLIPS developed is reported. Moreover, the evaluation of the icing nucleation delay and the ice adhesion force of the designed coatings is reported. SLIPS exhibited an increase of ice nucleation delay time if compared with bare substrate and a huge decrease of ice adhesion. In conclusion, designed samples are characterized in Ice Wind Tunnel to simulate the impact of supercooled drops on the designed coatings. The results confirmed the efficiency of the SLIPS with a consistent decrease of ice accumulation with respect the base substrate. SLIPS also achieved good stability in cold environment, stood out as a key issue for further development at larger scale.