New antifogging solution keeps surfaces transparent in extreme condensation.
Photo Credit: Moollyem
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: Micropatterned Hydrogel Antifogging Coatings
The Core Concept: A newly developed antifogging material utilizes a microwicking texture engineered onto a hydrogel surface to maintain optical transparency under extreme condensation. This soft, highly porous material inherently attracts water and uses microscopic structures to create a stable, continuous liquid film.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: While conventional solutions rely solely on hydrophilic properties to form films or hydrophobic microstructures to repel droplets, this material synergizes both mechanisms. Cylindrical micropillars engineered onto the inherently hydrophilic hydrogel draw excess water across the surface, preventing the formation of light-scattering droplets even in supersaturated conditions.
Origin/History: Developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and ETH Zurich, this advancement was detailed in a study published in Nature Communications in November 2026.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Hydrogel substrate: A highly porous, intrinsically hydrophilic base material that provides initial water-absorbing capacity.
- Micropatterned topography: Engineered cylindrical micropillars that generate a microwicking effect to manage surface water distribution.
- Synergistic wetting mechanism: The combined action of nanoscale pores for absorption and microscale pillars for surface wicking to sustain optical clarity.
Branches of Science: Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Nanotechnology, Surface Chemistry, and Fluid Mechanics.
Future Application: This technology holds potential for autonomous vehicles where condensation obscures cameras and LiDAR sensors, as well as for cooking appliances, sports eyewear, and optical sensors operating outside the human visible spectrum.
Why It Matters: By preventing surface fogging under severe environmental conditions, this coating ensures the reliable transmission of critical visual and sensory data, thereby improving the safety, performance, and efficacy of advanced imaging systems and everyday transparent surfaces.
Surface fogging on optical lenses, sensors, and cameras impairs the transmission of critical visual information. While early, rudimentary antifogging methods relied on temporary surfactant application, and modern solutions have advanced significantly, they still frequently fail under extreme condensation.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and ETH Zurich have developed a novel antifogging material to address extreme condensation.
As reported in Nature Communications, the team took a new approach, engineering a microwicking texture on the surface of a hydrogel, a material with intrinsic water-attracting properties. The resulting solution maintained antifogging performance even under severe condensation conditions.
“We wanted to try a different approach and create durable antifogging materials that could passively function in all environments,” said co-principal investigator Thomas Schutzius, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley and formerly with ETH Zurich. “By changing the texture of the hydrogel so that fog droplets form a stable, continuous film, our solution can sustain surface transparency even under severe condensation conditions.”
Surface fogging occurs when microscopic water droplets condense on a transparent surface, usually due to a decrease in surface temperature or an increase in water vapor pressure. These droplets then act like little lenses, scattering light. High levels of condensation can reduce optical transparency and translucency, making things look hazy.
Conventional antifogging solutions typically work in two ways. Hydrophilic, or water-attracting, surfaces encourage water droplets to form a film, which helps maintain transparency. Hydrophobic, or water-repelling, surfaces use special microstructures to repel water droplets, mimicking the superhydrophobic nanoscale topography found on cicada wings.
According to Schutzius, these approaches are effective with mild water accumulation, but they typically fail under supersaturated conditions. Consequently, the researchers developed a synergistic approach.
“We wound up developing a coating that is both water-loving and water-wicking,” he said.
To develop their antifogging solution, the researchers used hydrogels, which are soft, flexible materials commonly used to make contact lenses. The hydrogel is intrinsically hydrophilic thanks to its abundance of nanoscale pores. But it has a finite capacity to absorb water, so water droplets may start to form once it becomes saturated.
To address this problem, the researchers engineered cylindrical micropillars, invisible to the naked eye, across the hydrogel’s surface. This texture creates a microwicking effect, drawing water across the surface and generating a stable, continuous film.
The researchers validated the performance of the micropatterned hydrogel under a range of condensation conditions. It consistently outperformed other antifogging alternatives, including superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic coatings, based on optical clarity and stability.
The researchers then tested it in a more practical, yet extreme, application: cooking. They placed a patch of the micropatterned hydrogel on the underside of a glass pot lid and boiled zucchini and carrots. Initially, the patch looked misty, making it difficult to clearly see the vegetables. But after 30 seconds, it became completely transparent again.
“We’ve shown that this micropatterned hydrogel is a practical solution for even the most demanding applications,” said Schutzius. “Its unique combination of wet-state transparency, strong adhesion, and reliable performance under severe condensation gives it a distinct advantage over existing antifogging technologies.”
Schutzius noted that this new antifogging solution could someday be used in a broad range of applications that require optical transparency in the presence of heavy condensation. This includes vehicles, where condensation can temporarily obscure cameras and LiDAR sensors, creating a safety issue.
“As we engage with industry, we’ll see if there’s interest in further developing this technology for other, specific applications,” said Schutzius. “This could include sensors that operate outside the human-visible spectrum or possibly applications that we haven’t even thought of.”
Funding: This work was supported primarily by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant No. 179062). Additional support for the revision phase was provided by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) internal projects 2E33821 and 2E33854. C.W.E.L. acknowledges funding from the Croucher Foundation during revision of this manuscript. Open access funding provided by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.
Published in journal: Nature Communications
Title: Rationally micropatterned antifogging hydrogels counteracting extreme condensation
Authors: Hyunchul Park, Cheuk Wing Edmond Lam, Iwan Haechler, Thomas M. Schutzius, and Dimos Poulikakos
Source/Credit: University of California, Berkeley | Marni Ellery
Edited by: Scientific Frontline
Reference Number: ms111426_01