Fabrication of organic-inorganic nonhomogeneous nanocomposite coating with enhanced antifogging properties

Antifogging coatings with superhydrophilic performance by manipulating composition and structure have ob-tained significant consideration over recent years attributed to their ability to readily form a thin water film, which does not deteriorate light transmission. In this work, an advanced organic-inorganic nonhomogeneous antifogging coating has been successfully fabricated. The bottom layer was comprised of silica nanoparticles, forming the three-dimensional (3D) network skeleton via the condensation of silicon hydroxyl, which enhanced the water resistance ability of the coating; while the top layer was formed by silica-polymer nanocomposite, which conferred the coating good antifogging capability due to its abundant hydrophilic groups. The composite coating exhibited size-dependent surface properties, when the average particle size of silica was 10 nm, the nanocomposite coating exhibited remarkable antifogging and frost-resisting properties. Furthermore, the com-posite coating also showed higher stability than the pure polymer coating, and it remained outstanding anti-fogging performance after soaking in water for 6 h, or 180 h of exposure to UV irritation.