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Mind & Matter

 

See Through the Fog

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Multilayer Anti-Fog Coating, developed by the Université Laval, Quebec. Image credit: iStockphoto/Chepko Danil.

 

According to the journal Applied Materials and Interfaces, scientists from Quebec City’s Université Laval have recently developed the world’s first permanent anti-fog coating for transparent glass or plastic surfaces. To make the coating, the researchers applied the hydrophobic compound polyvinyl alcohol on top of several layers of silicon via an atmospheric plasma process.

Unlike other commercially-available anti-fog coatings that make claims of permanence, the new technology will endure repeated abuse without requiring reapplication. Initial applications target eyewear, which is good news for anyone tired of their glasses or diving masks fogging up. Perhaps we’ll also see bathroom mirrors with the new anti-fog coating before long.

 

 
 

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About the Blogger

Blaine Brownell

thumbnail image Minnesota-based architect and author Blaine Brownell, AIA, is a self-defined materials researcher and sustainable building adviser. His "Product of the Week" emails and three volumes of Transmaterial (2006, 2008, 2010) provide designers with a steady flow of inspiration—a 21st-century Grammar of Ornament. Blaine has practiced architecture in Japan and the U.S. and has been published in more than 40 design, business, and science publications. The recipient of a Fulbright fellowship for 2006–07, he researched contemporary Japanese material innovations at the Tokyo University of Science. He currently teaches architecture and co-directs the M.S. in Sustainable Design program at the University of Minnesota. His book Matter in the Floating World was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2011.