The escalating severity of icing phenomena in critical infrastructures, including power systems, transportation networks, and aerospace platforms, highlights the limitations of conventional deicing strategies. These strategies are typically characterized by excessive energy demand, while passive icephobic coatings often suffer from inadequate durability and long-term reliability. This study develops a multifunctional porous MXene/PDMS composite via an ultrafast microwave-assisted strategy. The resulting composite exhibits outstanding photothermal conversion efficiency (88.7%), ultralow thermal conductivity (0.0648 W m-1 K-1), and hydrophobicity after SiO2 modification. At -18 °C, this composite displays an ice delay time of 510 s and achieves complete deicing within 100 s under one-sun illumination. By synergistically integrating passive anti-icing capability with photothermal deicing functionality, the composite delivers superior comprehensive performance in diverse and complex environmental scenarios. Benefiting from its fast polymerization, energy efficiency, and multifunctional design, this material holds significant promise for practical implementation in sustainable, environmentally benign, and next-generation technological applications.
Chen et al. (2026) studied this question.