LAUSR

Abstract Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based anti-fogging layer has been successfully developed with an impressive long shelf-life by remarkably increasing the wettability of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films for agricultural greenhouses application. The plasma treatment of LDPE films was initially implemented, followed by the solution casting method. Tris-buffered saline (TBS) was added for enhancing the interaction between the anti-fogging agents and PVA polymer. Silica nanoparticles were used to enhance the stability of the layer. Time-domain NMR clarified the homogeneous silica distributed. The results show an increase in bound water fractions promotes silica distribution homogeneously. Also, obtained films become super-hydrophilic, having a contact angle less than 2° without water droplets formation under the hot fog test, for 1 month at 60 °C. The use of a unique PVA-TBS/Surfactant-SiO2 based anti-fogging agent shows excellent performance of LDPE films, which provides a key in solving the problem of fogging for agriculture greenhouses.