Rice University scientists who created a de-icing film for radar domes have now refined the technology to work as a transparent coating for glass. Lead researcher James Tour and his colleagues could keep glass surfaces from windshields to skyscrapers free of ice and fog while retaining their transparency to radio frequencies (RF). The material is made of graphene nanoribbons, atom-thick strips of carbon created by splitting nanotubes, a process also invented by the Tour lab. Whether sprayed, painted or spin-coated, the ribbons are transparent and conduct both heat and electricity. Last year the Rice group created films of overlapping nanoribbons… Login to continue

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