Icing has a severe negative impact on daily life and equipment stability. The slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS) has been widely studied for icephobicity. However, loss of lubrication leads to the failure of icephobicity. In this work, a self-lubricating photothermal surface (SLPS) based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and silicone oil was fabricated by a facile preparation method to realize passive anti-icing/deicing and active deicing simultaneously. SLPS can inhibit frost formation, delay freezing, and reduce ice adhesion strength (τice) under low-light and dark conditions. The τice value of SLPS-5-2 was 5.82 kPa in the absence of light at -20 °C. MWNTs improve the oil locking ability and inhibit oil loss, enhancing durability. The τice value of SLPS-5-2 remained within 20 kPa during 30 icing cycles. Meanwhile, SLPS has the excellent external replenishment capability to recover icephobicity. In addition, SLPS shows excellent photothermal deicing performance to melt frost, droplets, and ice layer quickly. Icing can be removed fast due to the oil layer. Silicone oil enhances the lateral heat transfer, improving the photothermal deicing. This all-in-one integration of the self-lubricating and photothermal effect finally boosts icephobicity compared to the traditional SLIPS or individual photothermal materials toward environmentally compatible and solar-driven icephobicity.
Keywords: anti-icing; defrosting; deicing; photothermal; replenishable.