Glasses Lined With Gold Push Anti-Fogging Eyewear In Clear Sight

Many countries across the globe are still enforcing pandemic protocols, with people stuck behind the confines of a mask daily. For anyone who wears glasses can attest, there’s probably nothing more annoying than having them constantly fog up. 

Now, researchers at ETH Zurich could have come up with the perfect solution to this centuries-old problem: gold. Of course, it’s not as simple as placing specks of gold dust onto your glasses. The nanotechnology, which involves a gold nanocoating that helps heat glass up by absorbing infrared radiation, could be the answer to keeping glasses fog-free even in the most humid environments. 

According to Engadget, the solution differs from previous measures that help wipe or clean condensation off the screen, considering this method prevents condensation from even happening in the first place. 

The team explains that the idea is similar to the principle used for a car’s rear window; though for vehicles, electric heating is inefficient and wasteful. In contrast, the new coating doesn’t require an additional energy source and heats passively. 

Of course, one consideration that comes with using gold is its high cost. Thankfully, the researchers emphasize that the coating only requires a minuscule amount of the material, so it’ll remain affordable. 

Thin clusters of gold are sandwiched between ultrathin layers of titanium oxide, which acts as insulation and increases the heating effect while protecting the gold from wearing out. 

Furthermore, the individual gold clusters barely touch one another while still allowing for electricity to be conducted through the layer, allowing the nanomaterial to still warm up the coating even in the absence of sunlight. 

Going forward, the scientists are looking to adapt the technology for different applications, and perhaps venture into using other materials as a replacement for the gold clusters. 

Apart from glasses or windshields, this anti-fogging solution could be applied to transparent objects that need to stay heated, including windows, mirrors, or even optical sensors. 

Take a closer look at how the passive heating works below, and head here to find out more about the research.

[via Engadget and ETH Zurich, cover image via Chernetskaya | Dreamstime.com]