Preparation Of Superhydrophobic Zinc Oxide Nanomaterials And Its Application In Anti-icing And Anti-frosting

Ice and frost covered on the facilities which used in industries of aviation, telecommunication, electricity and transportation could lead inco nvenience to our daily life and even can cause great economic lose, thus copper and stainless steel which possess anti- icing and anti- frosting properties of has great application value in modern industry. Therefore, the study of anti- icing and anti- frosting coatings has a significant meaning. Superhydrophobic surface with contact angles(CA) greater than 150°, inspired by lotus effect, have attracted great interest of researchers. This phenomenon has been proved that it is by optimizing surface physicochemical properties and surface topography, both ideal effects, anti- icing and anti- frosting can be achieved simultaneously. Superdrophobic zinc oxide was prepared via preparation of the seed layer and hydrothermal on copper and 304 stainless steel. Zinc oxide with different wettability obtained by UV irradiation and it has been tested for anti- icing and anti-frosting performance on the surface.(1) In order to obtain zinc oxide coating with different rough micro-structure the preparation of the seed layer and the reaction solution of hydrothermal method have been tried differently. After coating seed layer or eletrodeposition seed layer on copper and 304 stainless surface, through hydro-thermal method, a film of zinc oxide with rough micro-structure is obtained which is surface super-hydrophobic modified. Static contact angle(SCA) for SHS were measured to be 150° and sliding angle(SA) less than 5° respectively, the nano zinc oxide with different contact angle is obtain via the different UV irradiation process.(2) The present work has investigated the static and dynamic icing process on super- hydrophilic surface of the copper and stainless steel substrate, result shows that the surface performed excellent anti- icing and anti- frosting properties. The anti- icing properties of the zinc oxide surface with different rough structure are systematic investigated on cold surface(-5??-10??-15??-20?). The anti- icing effects of copper steel with the needle flower cluster structure and of stainless steel with flower cluster structure have been proved to be the best and the anti- icing performance goes better with a smaller nano-sized and more regular structure. About static icing conditions, super- hydrophobic nano-zinc oxide anti- icing effect is be compared to hydrophilic nano- zinc oxide, under the environment of-5 ?,-10 ?,-15 ?.The lower the temperature is, the worse anti- icing effect performed, and anti- icing effect is not obvious at-20 ?. Under the condition of-10??-16?, the experiment of frosting on the surface of zinc oxide is done using small droplets provided by a humidifier. Compared with hydrophilic nano-zinc oxide, hydrophobic nano-zinc oxide and blank substrate, the time that it begins to frost and the sample surface is covered with frost crystal have significantly delayed. The frost crystal quality is always the least and it is easiest to clear the frost crystal. Super-hydrophobic nano- zinc oxide has anti- frost effect.(3) The substrate material has impact on the nano-structure and anti- icing properties. The nano- zinc oxide structures on copper and 304 stainless steel are different when use the same preparation methods. The beginning time of drops on copper and 304 stainless steel surface to freeze is quite far from each other in an cold environment(-5??-10??-15?),compared with its anti- icing properties, we find that the anti- icing effect of copper-sample is generally more obvious above- 10 ?, while the anti- icing effect of stainless-sample is generally more obvious below-10 ?. In the environment of- 5 ?, 10 ?, 15 ?, the time of 304 stainless steel substrate that begins to frost is significantly different to that of super-hydrophilic nano zinc oxide of copper when they share the similar structure. Selecting the best anti- icing samples of copper steel substrate samples and 304 stainless steel substrate and comparing each other, it found that the anti- icing and anti- frost properties of copper steel samples are better than those of the 304 stainless steel samples.