Engineered icephobic surfaces

Project Description

GE Global Research proposes using classical molecular dynamics to model water/surface interactions on a molecular level, in particular investigating the mechanism of “icephobic” surfaces that hinder the accumulation of ice. This activity aligns with experimental work ongoing at GE Global Research for the past several years as part of the Nanotechnology initiative. Icephobic surfaces possess one or more of the following properties: 1) depression of melting temperature, 2) delay of spontaneous nucleation, 3) reduction of adhesion strength. Surfaces can be engineered to have different icephobic properties, based on tuning the chemical/topological parameters.