Evaluation of Superhydrophilic Polyelectrolyte Multilayered Films for Anti-fogging Applications

Polyelectrolyte multilayered (PEM) films created by an aqueous-based layer-by-layer assembly technique have been widely studied in the past decade. Owing to the simple, versatile and yet well-controlled nature of this technique, many potential applications of these thin films have also been proposed and explored. This thesis presents a recent work in fabricating nanoporous PEM films with superhydrophilic characteristics that demonstrate great promise for anti-fogging and anti-reflection glass coating applications. The automotive glass industry is then identified as a potential market for this technology, and competing anti-fogging technologies as well as relevant intellectual property are reviewed to further ascertain the commercial viability of this product. Finally a few possible business models for bringing this product to market are proposed and evaluated. Thesis Supervisor: Michael F. Rubner Title: TDK Professor of Polymer Materials Science and Engineering Director, Center for Materials Science and Engineering, MIT