Canadian Company Develops Carbon-Based Icephobic Coating

Canadian Company Develops Carbon-Based Icephobic Coating Zentek Ltd. (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada), an intellectual property development and commercialization company focused on next-generation health solutions, has announced the development of a newly designed, patent-pending, carbon-based and nanotechnology-reinforced coating that prevents ice accumulation. Various coatings were tested in a third-party laboratory in terms of adhesion strength, measured in kPa required to remove ice from the surface. ZEN's coating consistently demonstrated an adhesion strength around 20 kPa (~2.9 psi), a significant improvement over existing commercial products. For comparison, the ice adhesion strength of bare aluminum alloy is ~500 kPa (~72.5 psi)—to be classified as icephobic, adhesion strength must be below 100 kPa (14.5 psi). ZEN's preliminary results showed a 96% improvement over aluminum and an 80% improvement relative to the 100 kPa threshold. This winter, ZEN's coating will be included in flight tests conducted on a specially equipped research aircraft under ice-forming atmospheric conditions. ZEN will also test the feasibility of the coating as an effective passive tool for de-icing drone propellers in flight to enable operations in all weather conditions. If successful, this would permit significantly safer drone operations in more challenging weather conditions. ZEN CEO Greg Fenton stated, "In high-impact areas—in this case drones, aircraft, ocean vessels, wind turbines and other applications in cold-weather climates where ice has the potential to accumulate on surfaces, causing dangerous operational degradation—we continue to actively develop new nanotechnology-enabled applications with the potential to significantly improve vehicle safety. Our mission remains to develop innovative nanotechnologies that improve people's lives, and while our focus is primarily on nanotechnology-enabled health solutions, we are making significant contributions to other industries that can result in forward-looking vital steps to ensure public safety and enhance sustainability," he said. Previous research has shown that certain coatings can prevent ice adhesion, but these have been limited to laboratory settings, and questions remain about the durability necessary for acceptance as a practical application in aircraft ice protection systems. The development of a coating enhanced with nanotechnology using dispersed graphene has the potential to address this through improvements in bulk mechanical properties. The company filed a provisional patent application for ice-preventive coating technology and has begun exploring partnership opportunities. Source