Achieving a slippery, liquid-infused porous surface with anti-icing properties by direct deposition of flame synthesized aerosol nanoparticles on a thermally fragile substrate

Slippery, liquid-infused porous surfaces offer a promising route for producing omniphobic and anti-icing surfaces. Typically, these surfaces are made as a coating with expensive and time consuming assembly methods or with fluorinated films and oils. We report on a route for producing liquid-infused surfaces, which utilizes a liquid precursor fed oxygen-hydrogen flame to produce titania nanoparticles deposited directly on a low-density polyethylene film. This porous nanocoating, with thickness of several hundreds of nanometers, is then filled with silicone oil. The produced surfaces are shown to exhibit excellent anti-icing properties, with an ice adhesion strength of ∼12 kPa, which is an order of magnitude improvement when compared to the plain polyethylene film. The surface was also capable of maintaining this property even after cyclic icing testing.