Atmospheric ice and snow accumulation causes severe problems in many sectors. One solution is to reduce the wettability of metallic surfaces with hydrophobic coatings, among which superhydrophobics (SHPs) are considered promising. However, in recent years there has been a debate about the anti-icing properties of SHP surfaces, as many studies disagree on their effectiveness under all environmental conditions.

Additionally, various theories have been proposed to explain the reduction of ice adhesion on SHPs. Conversely, few studies address the performance of SHPs in reducing snow adhesion, and the related mechanisms are yet to be understood. This study presents various SHP coatings on aluminum alloy, obtained through a three-step process that includes chemical etching, hydrothermal treatment, and immersion in a fluorinated alkyl silane (FAS).

By varying the applied conditions, different roughness levels are achieved. Generally, increasing roughness with stronger etching worsens the ice-phobicity of surfaces while wettability remains unaffected. This means that, although all samples exhibit superhydrophobic or hydrophobic behavior, only some are ice-phobic. To study the relationship between ice-phobic and snow-phobic properties, two selected samples with different ice-phobicity were tested in an artificial snow laboratory.

Simulated snowfalls on treated conductor segments, compared with a bare sample, allowed the study of their performance in delaying the formation and/or promoting the early detachment of snow. This work aims to shed light on the role of superhydrophobicity in anti-snow and anti-icing applications.