Fog-Free Self-Cleaning Glass Made with Nanotechnology

Images: Kyoo-Chul Park and Hyungryul Choi

Wiping or blowing away the fog on your car's windshield will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to researchers at MIT: they've developed a fog-free, glare-free, and self-cleaning glass by using nanotechnology.

Through 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 researchers say they drew their inspiration from nature, where textured surfaces ranging from lotus leaves to desert-beetle carapaces and moth eyes have developed in ways that often fulfill multiple purposes at once. Although the arrays of pointed nanocones on the surface appear fragile when viewed microscopically, the researchers say their calculations show they should be resistant to a wide range of forces, ranging from impact by raindrops in a strong downpour or wind-driven pollen and grit to direct poking with a finger.