I-Corps: Preventing Snow Accumulation and Facilitating Snow Removal

Award ID: 2219905

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology for the prevention of snow accumulation that can be adapted to various autonomous and modern vehicles to enable their safe operation in all weather conditions. This technology can contribute to reducing roadway fatalities and create additional jobs and economic opportunities in transportation industry. Enhancement in power generation efficiency of photovoltaic modules during winter using the proposed passive technology (i.e., the snowphobic coating) may contribute to reduction in the use of nonrenewable sources of energy, potentially addressing climate change. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a passive technology to enable an understanding of the interaction of snow (which is a mixture of ice, air, and water) with solid surfaces during snow removal processes. The proposed research may advance the snow-removal surface coatings beyond currently available superhydrophobic and icephobic coatings which only deal with interactions of the surface with a single phase of water (i.e., only water or ice). The proposed coating will utilize fundamental understandings related to the composition of snow and its interaction with surfaces to provide durable coatings desirable for facilitating of snow removal under various environmental conditions. Finally, production and application of the proposed coatings are scalable, advancing the manufacture of low cost polymeric surfaces. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman