  Inhibiting ice accumulation on surfaces is an energy-intensive task and is of
significant importance in nature and technology where it has found applications
in windshields, automobiles, aviation, renewable energy generation, and
infrastructure. Existing methods rely on on-site electrical heat generation,
chemicals, or mechanical removal, with drawbacks ranging from financial costs
to disruptive technical interventions and environmental incompatibility. Here
we focus on applications where surface transparency is desirable and propose
metasurfaces with embedded plasmonically enhanced light absorption heating,
using ultra-thin hybrid metal-dielectric coatings, as a passive, viable
approach for de-icing and anti-icing, in which the sole heat source is
renewable solar energy. The balancing of transparency and absorption is
achieved with rationally nano-engineered coatings consisting of gold
nanoparticle inclusions in a dielectric (titanium dioxide), concentrating
broadband absorbed solar energy into a small volume. This causes a > 10 {\deg}C
temperature increase with respect to ambient at the air-solid interface, where
ice is most likely to form, delaying freezing, reducing ice adhesion, when it
occurs, to negligible levels (de-icing) and inhibiting frost formation
(anti-icing). Our results illustrate an effective unexplored pathway towards
environmentally compatible, solar-energy-driven icephobicity, enabled by
respectively tailored plasmonic metasurfaces, with the ability to design the
balance of transparency and light absorption.
