Hydrophobic durability characteristics of butterfly wing surface after freezing cycles towards the design of nature inspired anti-icing surfaces

PLoS One. 2018 Jan 31;13(1):e0188775. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188775. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The hydrophobicity and anti-icing performance of the surfaces of some artificial hydrophobic coatings degraded after several icing and de-icing cycles. In this paper, the frost formation on the surfaces of butterfly wings from ten different species was observed, and the contact angles were measured after 0 to 6 frosting/defrosting cycles. The results show that no obvious changes in contact angle for the butterfly wing specimens were not obvious during the frosting/defrosting process. Further, the conclusion was inferred that the topography of the butterfly wing surface forms a special space structure which has a larger space inside that can accommodate more frozen droplets; this behavior prevents destruction of the structure. The findings of this study may provide a basis and new concepts for the design of novel industrially important surfaces to inhibit frost/ice growth, such as durable anti-icing coatings, which may decrease or prevent the socio-economic loss.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Butterflies* / classification
  • Freezing*
  • Ice*
  • Species Specificity
  • Wings, Animal*

Substances

  • Ice

Grants and funding

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51711530236 to QC). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.