Icing and Adhesion Behaviors on Surfaces with Varied Lattice Constants.

ABSTRACT

Investigating droplet wetting and icing behavior is crucial for comprehending the principles of surface icing and the design of anti-icing surfaces. In this study, we present the evidence from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations that reveal a hitherto unreported behavior of droplet wetting and icing adhesion on surfaces with lattice constants from 2.7 to 4.5 Å. Here, we observe that the contact angles (CA) of droplets on a face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice surface consistently correlate positively with the lattice constant. Further examination of droplet behavior on an idealized crystal surface reveals that hydrophilic surfaces (e.g., CA = 85°) inhibit freezing more effectively than hydrophobic surfaces (e.g., CA = 97°). This finding contradicts the conventional explanation that hydrophobic surfaces reduce heterogeneous nucleation, thereby delaying icing. This study introduces a mechanistic explanation for the promotion of water icing by hydrophobic surfaces and offers a novel design concept for the development of anti-ice surfaces in future applications.