Retarded condensate freezing propagation on superhydrophobic surfaces patterned with micropillars

Abstract

Previous studies have shown ice delay on nano-structured or hierarchical surfaces with nanoscale roughness. Here we report retarded condensate freezing on superhydrophobic silicon substrates fabricated with patterned micropillars of small aspect ratio. We further investigated the pillar size effects on freezing propagation. We found that the velocity of freezing propagation on the surface patterned with proper micropillars can be reduced by one order of magnitude, compared to that on the smooth untreated silicon surface. Additionally, we developed an analytical model to describe the condensate freezing propagation on a structured surface with micropillars and the model predictions were compared with our experimental results.