Work

Annular thin-film surface acoustic wave platform for omnidirectional wireless ice protection and monitoring

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Piezoelectric thin-film surface acoustic wave (SAW) technologies offer promising solutions for anti-icing, deicing, and ice monitoring owing to their rapid response, concentrated energy delivery, and compatibility with wireless power transfer. However, conventional linear interdigital transducer (IDT) generates unidirectional acoustic waves, limiting the deicing coverage and sensing capability on geometrically complex surfaces. Herein, we introduce an annular IDT based SAW platform that generates radially propagating and omnidirectional acoustic waves for large-area deicing. The annular architecture provides enhanced coverage and is suitable for irregular and curved surfaces, while the thin-film configuration enables flexible integration. Such the platform is experimentally demonstrated under wireless power transfer and on flexible substrates, confirming its robustness for practical applications. Furthermore, we demonstrate that merging of split resonant peaks enables ice monitoring beyond conventional resonant-frequency-shift sensing, providing enhanced sensitivity to both glaze and rime ice. This work demonstrates a versatile SAW platform for deicing and ice monitoring, with potential for integration into intelligent ice protection systems and future applications involving curved and irregular structures.

Source: Surface and Coatings Technology

DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2026.134041