Self-healing unmanned aerial vehicle skin for icing prevention and intelligent monitoring
Source abstract
Abstract
In-flight icing is a common hazard in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), accounting for 25% of drone accidents due to their sensitivity to weight increase. Anti-icing technology for UAVs remains challenging because of their limited payload capacity and insufficient power to support electrothermal deicing systems. In this study, a self-healing intelligent skin was developed for small-size smart devices, such as UAVs. It provides anti-icing and icephobic capabilities in addition to real-time monitoring of in-flight icing. This skin consists of five layers, including self-healing supramolecular elastomers and electrodes, with an encapsulation layer composed of a specially designed fluoropolymer to decrease the ice nucleation temperature (−28.4 °C) and ice adhesion strength (33.0 kPa). Notably, this skin can monitor ice accretion on the UAV surface in real time, and its sensing performance undergoes complete self-recovery after damage. This study paves the way for intelligent UAVs to operate safely under extreme weather conditions.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Icing and De-icing Technologies · Smart Materials for Construction · Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (44)
Show source-provided references
1. Zhou, L., Yi, X. & Liu, Q. A review of icing research and development of icing mitigation techniques for fixed-wing UAVs. Drones 7, 709 (2023).10.3390/drones7120709 ↗
2. Khan, M. A. et al. On the detection of unauthorized drones—techniques and future perspectives: a review. IEEE Sens. J. 22, 11439–11455 (2022).10.1109/JSEN.2022.3171293 ↗
3. Al-lQubaydhi, N. et al. Deep learning for unmanned aerial vehicles detection: a review. Comput. Sci. Rev. 51, 100614 (2024).10.1016/j.cosrev.2023.100614 ↗
4. Ekeocha, J. et al. Challenges and opportunities of self‐healing polymers and devices for extreme and hostile environments. Adv. Mater. 33, 202008052 (2021).10.1002/adma.202008052 ↗
5. Li, H., Zhang, Y. & Chen, H. Optimization design of airfoils under atmospheric icing conditions for UAV. Chin. J. Aeronaut. 35, 118–133 (2022).10.1016/j.cja.2021.04.031 ↗
6. Shakhatreh, H. et al. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): a survey on civil applications and key research challenges. IEEE Access 7, 48572–48634 (2019).10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2909530 ↗
7. Cao, Y., Tan, W. & Wu, Z. Aircraft icing: an ongoing threat to aviation safety. Aerosp. Sci. Technol. 75, 353–385 (2018).10.1016/j.ast.2017.12.028 ↗
8. Hassanalian, M. & Abdelkefi, A. Classifications, applications, and design challenges of drones: a review. Prog. Aerosp. Sci. 91, 99–131 (2017).10.1016/j.paerosci.2017.04.003 ↗
9. Mohamed, A. et al. The attitude control of fixed-wing MAVS in turbulent environments. Prog. Aerosp. Sci. 66, 37–48 (2014).10.1016/j.paerosci.2013.12.003 ↗
10. Floreano, D. & Wood, R. J. Science, technology and the future of small autonomous drones. Nature 521, 460–466 (2015).10.1038/nature14542 ↗
11. Müller, N. C. et al. UAV icing: development of an ice protection system for the propeller of a small UAV. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 213, 103938 (2023).10.1016/j.coldregions.2023.103938 ↗
12. Hann, R. & Johansen, T. A. Unsettled Topics in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Icing EPR2020008 (SAE International, 2020).
13. Karpen, N. et al. Propeller-integrated airfoil heater system for small multirotor drones in icing environments: anti-icing feasibility study. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 201, 103616 (2022).10.1016/j.coldregions.2022.103616 ↗
14. Wan, Y. et al. Flexible electrothermal hydrophobic self-lubricating tape for controllable anti-icing and de-icing. ACS Appl. Eng. Mater. 1, 669–678 (2023).10.1021/acsaenm.2c00176 ↗
15. Zheng, H. et al. Nanogenerators integrated self-powered multi-functional wings for biomimetic micro flying robots. Nano Energy 101, 107627 (2022).10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.107627 ↗
16. Wu, S. et al. Superhydrophobic photothermal icephobic surfaces based on candle soot. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 11240–11246 (2020).10.1073/pnas.2001972117 ↗
17. Hann, R. et al. Experimental heat loads for electrothermal anti-icing and de-icing on UAVs. Aerospace 8, 8030083 (2021).10.3390/aerospace8030083 ↗
18. Gong, Z. et al. Flexible calorimetric flow sensor with unprecedented sensitivity and directional resolution for multiple flight parameter detection. Nat. Commun. 15, 3091 (2024).10.1038/s41467-024-47284-7 ↗
19. Tian, S. et al. Inhibition of defect-induced ice nucleation, propagation, and adhesion by bioinspired self-healing anti-icing coatings. Research 6, 0140 (2023).10.34133/research.0140 ↗
20. Chatterjee, R., Bararnia, H. & Anand, S. A family of frost‐resistant and icephobic coatings. Adv. Mater. 34, 202109930 (2022).
21. Kreder, M. J. et al. Design of anti-icing surfaces: smooth, textured or slippery? Nat. Rev. Mater. 1, 3 (2016).10.1038/natrevmats.2015.3 ↗
22. Guo, H. et al. A sunlight-responsive and robust anti-icing/deicing coating based on the amphiphilic materials. Chem. Eng. J. 402, 126161 (2020).10.1016/j.cej.2020.126161 ↗
23. Wang, L. et al. Robust anti‐icing performance of a flexible superhydrophobic surface. Adv. Mater. 28, 7729–7735 (2016).10.1002/adma.201602480 ↗
24. Emelyanenko, A. M. et al. Reinforced superhydrophobic coating on silicone rubber for longstanding anti-icing performance in severe conditions. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 24210–24219 (2017).10.1021/acsami.7b05549 ↗
25. Wong, T.-S. et al. Bioinspired self-repairing slippery surfaces with pressure-stable omniphobicity. Nature 477, 443–447 (2011).10.1038/nature10447 ↗
26. Irajizad, P. et al. Magnetic slippery extreme icephobic surfaces. Nat. Commun. 7, 13395 (2016).10.1038/ncomms13395 ↗
27. Shin, H. S. et al. Bio‐inspired large‐area soft sensing skins to measure UAV wing deformation in flight. Adv. Funct. Mater. 31, 202100679 (2021).10.1002/adfm.202100679 ↗
28. Lee, J. H., Cho, K. & Kim, J. K. Age of flexible electronics: emerging trends in soft multifunctional sensors. Adv. Mater. 36, 202310505 (2024).
29. Han, S. T. et al. An overview of the development of flexible sensors. Adv. Mater. 29, 201700375 (2017).10.1002/adma.201700375 ↗
30. Yang, K. et al. Highly stretchable, self-healing, and sensitive e-skins at -78 °C for polar exploration. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 10699–10707 (2024).10.1021/jacs.4c00541 ↗
31. Ma, Q. et al. An ultra‐low‐temperature elastomer with excellent mechanical performance and solvent resistance. Adv. Mater. 33, 202102096 (2021).10.1002/adma.202102096 ↗
32. Malakooti, M. H. et al. Liquid metal supercooling for low‐temperature thermoelectric wearables. Adv. Funct. Mater. 29, 201906098 (2019).10.1002/adfm.201906098 ↗
33. Tang, L.-C. et al. Fracture mechanisms of epoxy-based ternary composites filled with rigid-soft particles. Compos. Sci. Technol. 72, 558–565 (2012).10.1016/j.compscitech.2011.12.015 ↗
34. McCoul, D. et al. Recent advances in stretchable and transparent electronic materials. Adv. Electron. Mater. 2, 201500407 (2016).10.1002/aelm.201500407 ↗
35. Chen, P. et al. An extreme environment-tolerant anti-icing coating. Chem. Eng. Sci. 262, 118010 (2022).10.1016/j.ces.2022.118010 ↗
36. Murase, H. et al. Interactions between heterogeneous surfaces of polymers and water. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 54, 2051–2062 (1994).10.1002/app.1994.070541307 ↗
37. Heihachi Murasea, T. F. Characterization of molecular interfaces in hydrophobic systems. Prog. Org. Coat. 31, 97–104 (1997).10.1016/S0300-9440(97)00023-4 ↗
38. Bharathidasan, T. et al. Effect of wettability and surface roughness on ice-adhesion strength of hydrophilic, hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces. Appl. Surf. Sci. 314, 241–250 (2014).10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.06.101 ↗
39. Wu, Y.-l et al. An extremely chemical and mechanically durable siloxane bearing copolymer coating with self-crosslinkable and anti-icing properties. Compos. Part B Eng. 195, 108031 (2020).10.1016/j.compositesb.2020.108031 ↗
40. Guo, H. et al. Universally autonomous self-healing elastomer with high stretchability. Nat. Commun. 11, 2037 (2020).10.1038/s41467-020-15949-8 ↗
41. Xu, X., Jerca, V. V. & Hoogenboom, R. Bio-inspired hydrogels as multi-task anti-icing hydrogel coatings. Chem 6, 820–822 (2020).10.1016/j.chempr.2020.03.015 ↗
42. He, Z. et al. Bioinspired multifunctional anti-icing hydrogel. Matter 2, 723–734 (2020).10.1016/j.matt.2019.12.017 ↗
43. Golovin, K. et al. Low–interfacial toughness materials for effective large-scale deicing. Science 364, 371–375 (2019).10.1126/science.aav1266 ↗
44. Parida, K. et al. Extremely stretchable and self-healing conductor based on thermoplastic elastomer for all-three-dimensional printed triboelectric nanogenerator. Nat. Commun. 10, 2158 (2019).10.1038/s41467-019-10061-y ↗