ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The coating comprises three layers having a combined thickness of 10 nanometers. The top and bottom layers are made of titanium oxide and the middle layer is composed of gold.<\/p>\n \u201cThe advantage of our coating is that it can be integrated beneath existing coatings, rendering it very durable. Moreover, our coating is produced with standardized, readily scalable methods and can easily be upscaled over large areas, all cost-effectively. In addition, it uses a renewable source of power: sunlight and it both prevents fog from appearing (antifogging) and speeds up the removal of fog (defogging),\u201d one of the authors of the study, Iwan Haechler, told ZME Science<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n A conventional anti-fog spray removes fog by applying a hydrophilic (water-attracting) chemical on the surface of a material. This hydrophilic chemical keeps the surface clean by keeping it slightly wet with water and thus, no fog appears on the surface. However, the hydrophilic layers attract dust and dirt<\/a>, and over time the surface becomes contaminated with grime. Therefore, a user has to apply an anti-fog spray repeatedly.<\/p>\n Another solution to fogging available on the market are hydrophobic coatings<\/a> that keep a surface fog-free by heating it. However, these coatings use electricity and hence are energy inefficient. Especially, when it comes to electric cars if a user must use electricity to keep the car windows clean. This will adversely affect the range of the car.<\/p>\n The proposed gold-based coating also uses heat but it only needs sunlight for that. The coating absorbs infrared radiation from sunlight (no part of the visible or UV spectrum is absorbed) and uses the energy to heat up a surface and increase its temperature by 8 degrees Celsius. Due to the heating effect, no humidity-induced condensation takes place on the surface and therefore, no fog is formed<\/a> in the first place. <\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Now you may wonder that if the coating is made of gold<\/a>, would it still be affordable to apply on eyeglasses and glass shields? The researchers argue that very little gold is required to develop the coating. The middle layer is ultrathin measuring about 5 nm in thickness \u2014 even a gold leaf sheet is 12 times thicker than the gold layer used in the coating. <\/p>\n Haechler further explains that for creating every square meter of coating, only 100 mg of gold is required. This means that for a pair of regular-sized eyeglasses (2 x 15 cm2<\/sup>), the cost of gold to make the coating would come out to be less than 0.02 USD. So affordability is not likely going to be an issue with the gold-based coating.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-transparent-anti-fog-gold-coating.-1024x753-1.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/a>Gold versus fog<\/h3>\n
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How practical is it? <\/h3>\n
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