Effect of Decanol Vapors on the Delay in Water Droplet Crystallization on Superhydrophobic Substrates

We applied nanosecond laser texturing of an aluminum surface followed by chemical hydrophobization to impart superhydrophobic properties to the surface. We used the surfaces thus obtained to study the effect of decanol vapor adsorption on the parameters of aqueous sessile droplets deposited on the superhydrophobic substrate and on the peculiarities of nucleation kinetics for ensembles of supercooled aqueous droplets at a temperature of -15 degrees C and relative humidity close to 100%. It was shown that droplets of deionized water can remain in the supercooled liquid state at -15 degrees C for up to 10 h. The delay in crystallization of sessile aqueous droplets can increase significantly in the presence of decanol vapors. We have shown that this effect is related to the formation of a decanol monolayer on the droplet/vapor interface. In undersaturated vapors, this monolayer suppresses evaporation-induced cooling of the droplet. We discuss the effect of different surfactant adsorption conditions at various interfaces in the system, which may either increase or decrease the probability of ice nucleation in the droplets. The phenomenon of a surfactant-driven increase in freezing delay times for ensembles of supercooled water droplets at -15 degrees C for up to several tens of hours was detected for the first time in this study and may find wide practical application in mitigating atmospheric icing