Hybrid piezoelectric films and smart icephobic coatings with acoustic wave strategies for active ice protection

Ice buildup (via super-cold humid air, frost formation, frozen condensation or freezing rain) poses significant operational and safety challenges on wind/marine turbines and aeroplanes. For wind energy generation, these turbines often suffer significant drops in efficiency/production, severe damages or accidents. Ice accumulated on aircraft during flight seriously deteriorates aerodynamic performance and may lead to disasters.
The key aim of this project is to research hybrid smart thin materials combining piezoelectric films (such as doped-ZnO) and inherently icephobic surface/coatings, to generate surface acoustic waves (SAWs), which are used as anti-icing and de-icing mechanisms to mitigate real-time ice issues for the wind turbines. The innovative idea is to research hybrid piezoelectric thin films to generate SAWs directly onto surfaces of structures which can then excite a synergistic mechano-thermal effect for both anti-icing/de-icing functions, and to simultaneously perform ice sensing using these thin film acoustic wave devices. A key advantage of this developed smart thin film material platform with icephobic coatings is its seamless integration onto surfaces of turbine blades with energy efficient and wireless actuation/control/sensing functions. Some of the work will include the experimental investigation of droplet impact with low-temperature droplets and on low-temperature surfaces in order to simulate the effect of cold climates on both wind turbines and aircraft.
The project has the following key research work: (1) Design/deposit/characterize advanced piezoelectric doped ZnO films on turbine blade materials (for example, aluminium plates) using magnetron sputtering deposition. (2) Design, fabricate and simulate thin film material SAWs and investigate their piezoelectric and acoustic wave properties, focusing on multilayer based vibration modes and thermal effects. (3) Smart icephobic surfaces and coatings (including SAW compatible superhydrophobic/SLIPS/SOCAL/CYTop/elastic coatings). (4) Thin film piezoelectric materials for integrated ice sensing and monitoring. (5) Anti-icing/de-icing performance using thin film acoustic waves with smart icephobic coating materials.

ReNU's enhanced doctoral training programme delivered by three uniquely co-located major UK universities, Northumbria (UNN), Durham (DU) and Newcastle (NU), addresses clear skills needs in small-to-medium scale renewable energy (RE) and sustainable distributed energy (DE). It was co-designed by a range of companies and is supported by a balanced portfolio of 27 industrial partners (e.g. Airbus, Siemens and Shell) of which 12 are small or medium size enterprises (SMEs) (e.g. Enocell, Equiwatt and Power Roll). A further 9 partners include Government, not-for-profit and key network organisations. Together these provide a powerful, direct and integrated pathway to a range of impacts that span whole energy systems.

Industrial partners will interact with ReNU in three main ways: (1) through the Strategic Advisory Board; (2) by providing external input to individual doctoral candidate's projects; and (3) by setting Industrial Challenge Mini-Projects. These interactions will directly benefit companies by enabling them to focus ReNU's training programme on particular needs, allowing transfer of best practice in training and state-of-the-art techniques, solution approaches to R&D challenges and generation of intellectual property. Access to ReNU for new industrial partners that may wish to benefit from ReNU is enabled by the involvement of key networks and organisations such as the North East Automotive Alliance, the Engineering Employer Federation, and Knowledge Transfer Network (Energy).

In addition to industrial partners, ReNU includes Government organisations and not for-profit-organisations. These partners provide pathways to create impact via policy and public engagement. Similarly, significant academic impact will be achieved through collaborations with project partners in Singapore, Canada and China. This impact will result in research excellence disseminated through prestigious academic journals and international conferences to the benefit of the global community working on advanced energy materials.