An Icephobic Graphene Coating (IGC) to inhibit ice formation on critical surfaces

Operating equipment under icing conditions is often hazardous. The risk of exposing critical surfaces such as sensors and aircraft wings to ice formation can compromise stability, performance and potentially destroy it. Existing solutions to icing have several drawbacks, requiring extra power consuming systems and the frequent re-application of fast eroding coatings. Icephobic Graphene Coating (IGC) is a new graphene-based coating that solves several industrial problems related to ice and fogging. The coating has been developed at the University of Bergen and has the unique ability to hinder ice formation and reduce ice adhesion on applied surfaces. In addition, IGC preserves optical properties of transparent substrates, has anti-fogging capabilities and is extremely lightweight. Based on this pre-project, the University of Bergen and Bergen Technology office will prove that IGC can be applied on relevant surfaces as a first step towards large industrial commercialization. Successfully verification in this pre-project is important for commercialization of IGC as it helps the project towards large scale industry application areas.