UC Irvine

Frosting process is an inevitable phenomenon in numerous applications, ranging from the wings of air-craft to air-conditioning heat exchangers. Frost layers formed through the frosting process decrease the working efficiency of heat exchangers and significantly increase electricity usage for defrosting. In order to delay frost processes, the rational design of anti-frost surfaces is necessary to increase the performance of heat exchangers and make them more environment-friendly. Anti-frost surfaces can employ the combination of surface chemistry modification and surface patterning containing micro or nanoscale features.

Here I reported an efficient method of preparing dealloyed porous copper with micro-nanoscale pores using copper-zinc alloy. The morphology of the porous copper is photographed by the scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the contact angles of the functionalized porous copper are measured by a contact angle meter. The frosting process on the porous copper samples is also studied using a customized set-up. The test results demonstrate different frosting behaviors on the porous copper samples with different morphology and wettability. The fabrication method and test results may have implications for further nanoporous cupric materials design for anti-frosting and other thermal application.