Nano coatings, as they’re commonly known, are liquids, when applied to the materials, fuse with the surface to form a glossy, long-lasting barrier that repels water. 

In response to the needs of medical demand, Dr. YU Xuefeng, YANG Xingeng, KANG Yihong, ect. from the Shenzhen Institute of advanced technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT), have successfully developed the nano coatings with antifog function, which has been used in medical protective masks, medical goggles and so on.  

The proposed nano coating was a non-ionic surfactant independently developed by Dr. YU’ team. The antifog effect could last for 10 days in daily environment, efficiently solved a common problem for the medical staff, especially for whom in the front line of epidemic prevention. 

The protective goggles with nano coatings has been tested in some Shenzhen epidemic prevention hospitals, the results showed that after using the coating, the doctors could wore the goggles without fogging for more than five consecutive hours, which is very effective in helping the medical staff who spend many hours in the intensive care unit to operate more safely. 

The coating used a special molecular structure of non-ionic surfactant, one end was hydrophilic group, the other end was lipophilic group, and the hydrophilic group adsorbed the water molecules in the air and reduced the surface tension. 

Materials Interfaces Center (MIC) of SIAT has accumulated substantial research experience in material interface science research, and gradually developed various technologies such as glass antireflection / superhydrophobic nano coating, ceramic oil drainage nano coating, fabric nano waterproof coating, antibacterial and antiviral coating.  

The comparison of the coating.(Image by SIAT)

Comparison of fogging effect between the coated goggles (right side) and the uncoated goggles (left side). (Image by SIAT)