Large-area and transparent antifogging polymeric coatings via highly efficient and facile layer-by-layer assembly

Abstract

Abstract Fogging can completely obscure the optical transparency of transparent surfaces, which results in inconvenience and even possible harm. The present work addresses this issue by developing large-area functional polymeric coatings on linear low-density polyethylene films by a rapid and effective layer-by-layer assembly involving orthoboric acid (H3BO3) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The resulting coatings are highly transparent and demonstrate an antifogging property due to high wettability. The rapid fabrication of polymeric coatings is facilitated by the mechanism of H3BO3 chelation with the numerous hydroxyl groups of PVA. The polymeric coatings attain a thickness of 22.24 ± 0.66 μm within just 4 deposition cycles. The resultant H3BO3/PVA coatings present a transmittance of >80% at 700 nm and an antifogging property with a contact angle