  Icing has become a hot topic both in academia and in the industry given its
implications in strategic sectors such as transport, robotics, wind turbines,
photovoltaics, and electricity supply. Recently proposed de-icing solutions
involving the propagation of acoustic waves (AWs) at suitable substrates may
open the path for a sustainable alternative to standard de-icing or anti-icing
protocols. Herein we experimentally unravel some of the basic interactions that
contribute to the de-icing and/or hinder the icing (ice accretion) on
AW-activated substrates. The response toward icing of a model substrate system
consisting of a piezoelectric LiNbO3 plate AW activated by radio-frequency (rf)
signaling to planar electrodes has been characterized both at a laboratory
scale and in an icing wind tunnel under forced convection conditions. Main
features related to de-icing mechanisms, a decrease of ice adhesion, or the
avoidance of ice accretion have been disclosed by this holistic investigation.
Furthermore, additional experiments have shown that the piezoelectric substrate
surfaces modified with a fluorinated ZnO thin film or a ZnO/CFx bilayer present
anti-icing functionality and a synergistic response when activated with AWs. A
careful analysis of the dependence of resonance frequency of the piezoelectric
substrates on experimental variables such as temperature, ice formation, or
wind velocity shows that this parameter can be used as an internal control
procedure for real-time monitoring of icing processes onto AW-activated devices
