Heterogeneous ice nucleation (HIN) on foreign surfaces plays a crucial role across a wide range of environmental and biological processes, and control of HIN is highly desirable. Functionalizing surfaces to control HIN poses interesting scientific challenges and holds great potential for technological impact. Here, we combine the ice nucleation tuning capability of polyelectrolytes with mussel-inspired adhesives to obtain robust surface functionalization with HIN control. We tune ice nucleation by integrating strongly surface-binding catechol derivatives into three different polyelectrolytes via a facile and scalable strategy. Sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy reveals that the functionalized surface with the lowest ice nucleation temperature (−22.1 °C) exhibits the strongest hydrogen bonding interaction with water molecules. The coating exhibits long-term stability up to 30 days even under harsh conditions such as 5 M salt solution and can be deposited onto various substrates because of its strong adhesion on solid surfaces. Moreover, the precise ice nucleation temperature window can be tuned by controlling the grafting degree of the catechol derivatives. Our study provides a new strategy for tuning ice nucleation and provides a new perspective on understanding the mechanism of ice nucleation at the molecular level by interfacial molecular spectroscopy, which will help in the design and development of anti-ice-nucleation materials.

异质表面上的异质冰核 (HIN) 在广泛的环境和生物过程中起着至关重要的作用，因此非常需要控制 HIN。控制 HIN 的功能化表面带来了有趣的科学挑战，并具有巨大的技术影响潜力。在这里，我们将聚电解质的冰核调节能力与受贻贝启发的粘合剂相结合，通过 HIN 控制获得强大的表面功能化。我们通过一种简便且可扩展的策略将强表面结合的儿茶酚衍生物整合到三种不同的聚电解质中来调节冰核化。和频产生 (SFG) 光谱表明，具有最低冰成核温度 (-22.1 °C) 的功能化表面与水分子表现出最强的氢键相互作用。即使在 5 M 盐溶液等恶劣条件下，该涂层也表现出长达 30 天的长期稳定性，并且由于其在固体表面上的强附着力，可以沉积在各种基材上。此外，可以通过控制邻苯二酚衍生物的接枝度来调节精确的冰核温度窗口。我们的研究为调节冰成核提供了一种新的策略，并为通过界面分子光谱在分子水平上理解冰成核机制提供了新的视角，这将有助于抗冰成核材料的设计和开发。可以通过控制邻苯二酚衍生物的接枝度来调节精确的冰成核温度窗口。我们的研究为调节冰成核提供了一种新的策略，并为通过界面分子光谱在分子水平上理解冰成核机制提供了新的视角，这将有助于抗冰成核材料的设计和开发。可以通过控制邻苯二酚衍生物的接枝度来调节精确的冰成核温度窗口。我们的研究为调节冰成核提供了一种新的策略，并为通过界面分子光谱在分子水平上理解冰成核机制提供了新的视角，这将有助于抗冰成核材料的设计和开发。