Anti-fogging surfaces

Achieving an anti-fogging material is more challenging than achieving an anti-rain material. A relevant way to investigate the resistance to fog consists of depositing hot water on a cold surface. We show that classical superhydrophobic surfaces with micron-size microstructures lose their superhydrophobic behaviour due to vapour condensation. To understand this phenomenon, we measured the adhesion force of hot water drops on different substrates and propose a quantitative description of this force generated by condensation. Our main result is that reducing the scale of the structures can strongly promote antifogging properties.