Herein, we present the development of supported organic nanofabrics formed by a conformal polymer-like interconnection of small-molecule organic nanowires and nanotrees. These organic nanostructures are fabricated by a combination of vacuum and plasma-assisted deposition techniques to generate step by step, single-crystalline organic nanowires forming one-dimensional building blocks, organic nanotrees applied as three-dimensional templates, and the polymer-like shell that produces the final fabric. The complete procedure is carried out at low temperatures and is compatible with an ample variety of substrates (polymers, metal, ceramics; either planar or in the form of meshes) yielding flexible and low solid-fraction three-dimensional nanostructures. The systematic investigation of this progressively complex organic nanomaterial delivers key clues relating their wetting, nonwetting, and anti-icing properties with their specific morphology and outer surface composition. Water contact angles higher than 150° are attainable as a function of the nanofabric shell thickness with outstanding freezing-delay times (FDT) longer than 2 h at −5 °C. The role of the extremely low roughness of the shell surface is settled as a critical feature for such an achievement. In addition, the characteristic interconnected microstructure of the nanofabrics is demonstrated as ideal for the fabrication of slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS). We present the straightforward deposition of the nanofabric on laser patterns and the knowledge of how this approach provides SLIPS with FDTs longer than 5 h at −5 °C and 1 h at −15 °C.
We thank the AEI, MINECO (MAT2016-79866-R), and Consejerıa de Economia y Conocimiento de la Junta de Andalucia (US-1263142), the EU through cohesion fund and FEDER 20014-2020 programs and H2020 Phobic2Ice project(ref 690819) for financial support. This project has received funding from the EU-H2020 research and innovation program under the grant agreement No. 654360 (Id285) having benefitted from the access provided by CEA-Leti in Grenoble (France) within the framework of the NFFA-Europe Transnational Access Activity. F.J.A. and J.R.S.-V. acknowledge the Juan de la Cierva and Ramon y Cajal Programs, respectively. C.L.-S. and J.R.S.-V. thank the University of Seville through the VI PPIT-US.