title: Anti-icing properties of a superhydrophobic surface in a salt environment: an unexpected increase in freezing delay times for weak brine droplets.
abstract: Superhydrophobic coatings on the aluminum alloy were fabricated by intensive nanosecond pulsed laser treatment and chemical surface hydrophobization, which are chemically stable in contact with 0.5 M NaCl aqueous solutions and mechanically durable against stresses arising in the repetitive freezing/thawing of brine. The statistics of the crystallization of ensembles of sessile supercooled droplets deposited on above superhydrophobic coatings indicate considerable anti-icing properties. The comparative analysis of crystallization statistics of deionized water and of brine at a temperature of -20 °C allows detecting a striking increase in freezing delay times for the latter case with freezing delay for brine droplets reaching more than 6 hours. We explain the observed phenomenon based on the structure of the double electric layer in the vicinity of the hydrophobic surface and the solution/air interface and on the concept of structure making/breaking ions.
authors.affiliation: A. N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Leninsky prospect 31 bld. 4, 119071 Moscow, Russia. boinovich@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Ludmila B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Boinovich
authors.affiliation: A. N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Leninsky prospect 31 bld. 4, 119071 Moscow, Russia. boinovich@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Alexandre M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Emelyanenko
authors.affiliation: A. N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Leninsky prospect 31 bld. 4, 119071 Moscow, Russia. boinovich@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Kirill A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Emelyanenko
authors.affiliation: A. N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Leninsky prospect 31 bld. 4, 119071 Moscow, Russia. boinovich@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Konstantin I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Maslakov