Researchers have developed a new anti-fog glass coating that can transform water droplets into smooth transparent sheets of water. The coating can be used on everything from car windows, bathroom mirrors, eyeglasses, ski goggles, underwater masks, and inside car headlights to prevent fogging.
Fog is not just a weather nuisance for drivers. It can happen anywhere moisture condenses on a cool surface.it can cause problems just about everywhere. Bathroom mirror, eyeglasses, and the car windshield can all fall victim to fog.
Now, a new anti-fog glass coating is clearing the way for consumers.
Michael Rubner, a materials chemist and professor of Polymer Material Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, says, 'When they condense they are just the right size to scatter light. If light gets scattered you can't see through those glasses anymore.'
Rubner has created a polymer coating, made from different materials that transform the opaque droplets of water into a transparent sheet. 'All of the processes that we use to create these coatings is done with water,' he says.
The process begins by dipping the glass into a solution of negatively charged tiny glass particle. Subsequently, it is dipped into another solution with positively charged polymers. 'We are forming what we call nanopores. The pores are so small that you can't see them with your eyes. They don't scatter light. But they are large enough so that when you put a drop of water onto the surface, it is drawn into those pores and spread across the surface instantaneously,' says Rubner.
When moisture condenses on a cool surface, droplets can form that are the right size to scatter light, leading to fogging up of the glass. Now, a new polymer coating is able to draw droplets into nanopores, resulting in a transparent sheet, improving vision.
The effect allows you to continue seeing clearly through the piece of coated glass.
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