WORLD
Researchers create anti-fogging, self-cleaning, glare-free glass
Baku, May 2 (AZERTAC). Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a new wonder glass that addresses the problems affecting ordinary glass such as fogging and glare.
The secret lies in a process involving thin layers of material deposited on a surface and then selectively etched away.
"The MIT team produced a surface covered with tiny cones, each five times taller than their width. This pattern prevents reflections, while at the same time repelling water from the surface," the MIT said.
It added the surface textures on glass developed by the MIT team virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is "almost unrecognizable."
Aside from the absence of glare, the new glass has a surface that causes water droplets to bounce right off, "like tiny rubber balls," and is self-cleaning.
The researchers hope to have the glass made using a low-cost manufacturing process that could be applied to optical devices, the screens of smartphones and televisions, solar panels, car windshields and even windows in buildings.
The researchers said the new multifunctional surfaces created by the MIT team are even more effective at repelling water, keeping the panels clean longer.
Park said photovoltaic panels can lose as much as 40 percent of their efficiency within six months as dust and dirt accumulate on their surfaces.
But he said a solar panel protected by the new self-cleaning glass would have much less of a problem.
Also, the panel would be more efficient because more light would be transmitted through its surface, instead of being reflected away — especially when the sun’s rays are inclined at a sharp angle to the panel.
They noted existing hydrophobic coatings do not prevent reflective losses, giving the new system yet another advantage.
The research was funded by the Army Research Office through MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology; the Air Force Office of Scientific Research; Singapore’s National Research Foundation through the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Center, and the Xerox Foundation.