Mechanism of supercooled droplet freezing on surfaces

Understanding ice formation from supercooled water on surfaces is a problem of fundamental importance and general utility. Superhydrophobic surfaces promise to have remarkable 'icephobicity' and low ice adhesion. Here we show that their icephobicity can be rendered ineffective by simple ch...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2012-01, Vol.3 (1), p.615-615, Article 615
Main Authors: Jung, Stefan, Tiwari, Manish K., Doan, N. Vuong, Poulikakos, Dimos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/1005/190
Contact angle
Crystallization
Freezing
Gases
Hot Temperature
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humidity
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
Hydrophobic surfaces
Ice
Investigations
Microscopy - methods
Microscopy, Confocal - methods
multidisciplinary
Nitrogen
Nitrogen - chemistry
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Stress, Mechanical
Surface Properties
Temperature
Viscosity
Water - chemistry
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Summary:Understanding ice formation from supercooled water on surfaces is a problem of fundamental importance and general utility. Superhydrophobic surfaces promise to have remarkable 'icephobicity' and low ice adhesion. Here we show that their icephobicity can be rendered ineffective by simple changes in environmental conditions. Through experiments, nucleation theory and heat transfer physics, we establish that humidity and/or the flow of a surrounding gas can fundamentally switch the ice crystallization mechanism, drastically affecting surface icephobicity. Evaporative cooling of the supercooled liquid can engender ice crystallization by homogeneous nucleation at the droplet-free surface as opposed to the expected heterogeneous nucleation at the substrate. The related interplay between droplet roll-off and rapid crystallization is also studied. Overall, we bring a novel perspective to icing and icephobicity, unveiling the strong influence of environmental conditions in addition to the accepted effects of the surface conditions and hydrophobicity. The mechanism through which ice forms on surfaces is of broad technological relevance. This study examines the manner in which ice forms on so-called 'icephobic' surfaces, and demonstrates that simple changes in the environmental conditions can render the icephobicity ineffective.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms1630