Reducing ice adhesion by hierarchical micro-nano-pillars.

Highlights: [•] The surface with hierarchical micro-nano-pillars had the least ice adhesion, which was far less than the surface with micro-pillars and smooth surface without any structure (MN<M<S). [•] Decreasing the micro-pillar space decreased ice adhesion, and the ice adhesion of micro-nano-pillar remained the smallest despite the geometry change. [•] A linear correlation was observed between lateral ice adhesion and contact angle hysteresis of micro-pillar surface. [•] The surface geometry change resulted in different ice–substrate contact areas and thus different ice adhesions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]