Photochemical Attachment of Water-Absorbing Hydrogel Coatings to Polystyrene to Avoid Turbidity in Cold Environments

摘要

If a cold surface comes into contact with humid air, water can condense onto it. Depending on humidity and temperature either water droplets or ice crystals are formed. A previously transparent substrate thus becomes opaque. This problem, for instance, is relevant for drawers or shelves in refrigerators and especially in freezers. Upon opening the door of a freezer one should be able to see what is stored in the drawers. However, due to air moisture it often happens that the surface of the drawers fogs, so that the contents can no longer be identified. The coating reported about here is supposed to prevent the fogging (Fig. 1), hopefully reducing the period of time that the freezer has to stay open before the needed product is found.