Fluorinated graphene provides long lasting ice inhibition in high humidity

Ice formation on surfaces is a fascinating phenomenon with a major impact on a huge range of human activities from airplanes and shipping to wind mill parks, power transmission and telecommunication. A significant amount of work has been dedicated to the development of icephobic surfaces, often with the basis in superhydrophobicity. However, most surfaces investigated so far have not been very robust (an issue for operation in harsh and high humidity environments). Anti-icing strategies for practical applications in harsh environments have therefore mainly been related to the development of heatable coatings and/or mechanical removal or, in the case of airplanes, de-icing with glycol. Here we present a robust and lightweight anti-icing coating based on fluorinated graphene. The new coating delays ice formation for a striking 90 min at −15 °C up to 6 h and 45 min at −5 °C. All experiments were carried out at high humidity (50–55%). We also present first experiments of anti-icing on pure graphene. The very superior performance of the fluorinated graphene can be explained as a favourable combination of very low surface energy and nanoscale roughness.