Transparent Electrothermal Superhydrophobic Surface with Low Energy Penalty and Durability for Anti/Deicing.

Electrothermal superhydrophobic surfaces hold significant promise for anti/deicing technology, but their application in solar panels and car windshields, which require high transparency, low energy penalty, and durability, still remains challenging. This paper proposes an electrothermal microcone and border film (ECBF), where material system and precise laser processing method jointly ensure its transparency up to 85%. During the freezing process, nonequilibrium droplet penetration behavior caused by height gradient of microcones and borders results in a minimum droplet penetration ratio, ice adhesion strength is only 1.61 kPa. Furthermore, the sealed characteristic of ECBF effectively prevents air from escape, which effectively keeps droplets from freezing at -20 °C with a power density of 0.05 W cm-2. ECBF's durability is demonstrated by 200 cycles of abrasion and 240 h immersion in corrosive solution. ECBF achieves a well balance between transparency, electrical conductivity, and robustness, expanding the applied fields of anti/deicing technology.