Ice-Inspired Polymeric Slippery Surface with Excellent Smoothness, Stability, and Antifouling Properties

Ice is omnipresent in our daily life
and possesses intrinsic
slipperiness
as a result of the formation of a quasi-liquid layer. Thus, the functional
surfaces inspired by ice show great prospects in widespread fields
from surface lubrication to antifouling coatings. Herein, we report
an ice-inspired polymeric slippery surface (II-PSS) constructed by
a self-lubricating liquid layer and a densely surface-grafted polymer
brush. The polymer brush layer could act as a homogeneous matrix to
capture lubricant molecules via strong and dynamic dipole–dipole
interactions to form a stable quasi-liquid layer that resembles the
ice surface. The II-PSS can be easily fabricated on various solid
substrates (e.g., silicon, glass, aluminum oxide, plastics, etc.)
with excellent smoothness (roughness of ∼0.4 nm), optical transmittance
(∼94.5%), as well as repellence toward diverse liquids with
different surface tensions (22.3–72.8 mN m–1), pH values (1–14), salinity, and organic pollutants. Further
investigation shows that the II-PSS exhibits extremely low attachment
for proteins and marine organisms (e.g., algae and mussels) for over
one month. These results demonstrate a robust and promising strategy
for high-performance antifouling coatings.