A Superhydrophobic/Electrothermal/Photothermal Synergistically Anti-icing Strategy with Excellent Self-healable and Anti-abrasion Property

Unexpected ice accumulation tends to cause many problems or even disasters in our daily life. Based on the superior electrothermal and photothermal function of the carbon nanotubes, we introduced a superhydrophobic/electrothermal/photothermal synergistically anti-icing strategy. When a voltage of 15 V was applied to the superhydrophobic sample, the surface could rapidly melt the ice layer (~ 3 mm thickness) within 530 s at the environmental temperature of − 25 °C. When the near-infrared light (808 nm) irradiates on the superhydrophobic sample, the ice could be rapidly removed after 460 s. It was found that the superhydrophobicity helps the melted water to roll off immediately, and then solves the re-freeze problem the traditional surfaces facing. Moreover, the ice can be completely melted with 120 s when the superhydrophobic/electrothermal/photothermal synergistically anti-icing strategy was utilized. To improve the mechanical robustness for practical application, both nanoscale carbon nanotubes and microscale carbon powders were utilized to construct hierarchical structure. Then these dual-scale fillers were sprinkled onto the semi-cured elastomer substrate to prepare partially embedded structure. Both hierarchical structure and partially embedded structure were obtained after completely curing the substrate, which imparts excellent abrasion resistance (12.50 kPa, 16.00 m) to the prepared sample. Moreover, self-healable poly(urea–urethane) elastomer was introduced as the substrate. Thus, the cutted superhydrophobic sample can be mended by simply contacting at room temperature.

Local pragmatics: Issues and reflection

Pragmatic effects triggered by embedded structure have caused problems to Grice’s Theory of Conversational Implicature. This long-standing view is challenged by local pragmatics proposed by Mandy Simons. As to the theoretical development, Robyn Carston, Francois Recanati, and Emma Borg respectively raise their comments, while Simons positively responds to these commentaries and further elaborates her stance. In this article, the argumentation among these scholars is presented first, and much attention is paid to the value and influence of the argumentation, which would shed light on the current debate between semantics and pragmatics.

Variable embedded agent in Sason Arabic

The paper investigates the syntax and semantics of an indirect causative construction, ‘make’ causatives, in Sason Arabic with a focus on the syntax of the embedded structure and the status of the implicit embedded agent. On the basis of several diagnostics, the study demonstrates that ‘make’ embeds an agentive VoiceP, which also manifests an active-passive alternation despite the absence of any morphological reflex. Regarding the nature of the implicit embedded agent, the paper argues that it is present as a free variable à la Heim (1982) generated on the Voice head itself. In so doing, it adds to the ontology of null arguments as well as suggesting that licensing of a grammatical object is dissociated from the projection of a specifier.

A Passive Anti-icing Strategy Based on a Superhydrophobic Mesh with Extremely Low Ice Adhesion Strength

Although superhydrophobic materials have attracted much research interest in anti-icing, some controversy still exists. In this research, we report a cost-effective method used to verify the contribution of area fraction to ice adhesion strength. We tried to partially-embed silica nanoparticles into microscale fabrics of a commercial polyamide mesh. Then, the area fraction could be determined by altering the mesh size. Generally, the ice adhesion strength decreases as the area fraction decreases. An ice adhesion strength of ∼1.9 kPa and a delayed freezing time of ∼1048 s can be obtained. We attribute the low ice adhesion strength to the combination of superhydrophobicity and stress concentration. The superhydrophobicity prohibits the water from penetrating into the voids of the meshes, and the small actual contact area leads to stress concentration which promotes interfacial crack propagation. Moreover, our superhydrophobic mesh simultaneously exhibits a micro-nano hierarchical structure and a partially-embedded structure. Therefore, the as-prepared superhydrophobic mesh retained the icephobicity after 20 icing/deicing cycles, and maintained its superhydrophobicity even after 60 sandpaper-abrasion cycles and a 220 °C thermal treatment.