Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a nano-particle coating that can easily be applied to roads, power lines and lots of other solid surfaces that prevents ice buildup.

An aluminum plate glazed with Gao's superhydrophobic coating (left) repelling the supercooled water. For the uncoated plate (right), the water freezes on contact and ice accumulates. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Pittsburgh)

The Story: Ice collecting on roads, power lines and even on aircraft have been a gigantic concern every single winter since the industrial age. But now, a team of researchers from University of Pittsburgh has unveiled a way to mitigate the danger of ice buildup by developing a nanoparticle-based coating that’s applied to solid surface materials which then blocks ice buildup.

It’s called a superhydrophobic coating and it’s not only inspired by the rutted surface of lotus leaves – creating microscopic ridges that reduce the surface area to which water can adhere – it actually emulates that rutted surface. Some may already recognize that a number of self-cleaning plastics owe their creation to the surface of the lotus leaf, as do more and more efficient solar cell surfaces along with a special coating for spaceflight equipment, specifically intended to minimize the presence of ice on these delicate and incredibly fast-moving systems.

Dr. Di Gao, a chemical and petroleum engineering professor in Pittsburgh University’s Swanson School of Engineering, along with his team created a silicone resin-solution combined with nanoparticles of silica ranging in size from 20 nanometers to 20 micrometers to stem the proliferation of ice buildup. To test the efficacy of their breakthrough, they applied the different solutions and nanoparticles to aluminum plates before exposing those plates to supercooled water (-20 degrees Celsius) to simulate freezing rain.

What they found was that each compound containing silica bits of 10-or-fewer micrometers redirected the water, but only those experiments with the silica pieces of less than 50 nanometers in size completely prevented icing. The minute available surface area of the smaller fragments meant they made less contact with the water. Rather, where the water did make contact, was on the periphery of the silicone resin and the nanoparticles, mostly in miniscule the air pockets between the particles, falling away harmlessly without ever freezing. Varying particle-scales will be employed to repel the water and ice, depending on the surface material users wish to employ.

Dr. Gao and his team tested their work on two different surfaces. First, he coated one side of an aluminum plate with 50-nanometer particles, while leaving the other side of the plate untreated, exposing it to freezing rain. He conducted a similar experiment with a satellite dish, covering the side facing to the sky with his breakthrough technology, while leaving the back side of the dish untreated. In both experiments, the sides that were protected had no ice buildup, while the opposite sides that had no protection, were covered in ice.