Development and implementation of microbial antifreeze protein based coating for anti-icing

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/admi.202300021

Ice formation on a solid surface is a major challenge in industrial applications, it causes higher energy consumption and performance deterioration and may lead to catastrophic results. The preparation of anti-icing surfaces to prohibit ice accumulation on a surface is crucial to reduce operational costs and to extend the surface's lifetime. The utilization of cryoprotectants to obtain anti-icing surfaces is an effective method and is applicable in multiple fields. Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are natural cryoprotectants to obtain anti-icing surfaces, which have the ability to decrease the freezing point and to prevent ice-crystal growth via thermal hysteresis (TH) and ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI). This study reports the molecular cloning, expression, and production of AFP protein from Escherichia coli (E. Coli). This wok also demonstrates the activity of coated AFP on aluminum surfaces. The expressed AFP is immobilized on aluminum surfaces treated by oxygen plasma. The coated AFP exhibits promising antifreeze activity with a high anti-icing ability on aluminum surfaces in the size of evaporator fins (40 × 40 cm). The outcome of this study provides new insights into the biotechnological implementation of AFPs to various industrial applications for energy-saving and higher performance.