Design and preparation of durable anti‐icing polysilazane coatings with abrasion and UV resistance.

This work developed a method to enhance the durability of anti‐icing performance of a coating to endure abrasion and UV exposure, through grafting functional polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to TiO2 particles and further reacting with polysilazane (PSZ) pre‐polymer. This method remarkably improved the anti‐icing properties of PSZ‐based coatings evaluated by freezing delay time and ice removal shear strength. After either surface abrasion for 50 cycles or UV exposure for 100 h, the modified coatings exhibited ice shear strength increase by only 10.44 and 6.44 kPa respectively, significantly lower comparing to that of the coatings containing 30% TiO2 with no PDMS modification (29.69 and 11.88 kPa, respectively). Such strengthened durability of anti‐icing performance is attributed to the PDMS molecules bridging PSZ rigid segments and TiO2 compositions, which formed a hydrophobic cross‐linking network structure. The durable anti‐icing technique developed herein shall appeal to many outdoor applications of facilities and infrastructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]