Aquapel is a rain repellent glass treatment created by

PPG Industries PPG Industries, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 company and global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 70 countries around the globe. By revenue it is ...

. It is a competitor to the more widely known Rain-X product, but unlike Rain-X, is not a

silicone A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...

-based compound. Aquapel Glass Treatment consists of fluorinated compounds called fluoroalkylsilanesHydrophobic Self-Assembling Monolayers: The Science of Rain-X
/ref> which create a chemical bond with glass surfaces, causing water to bead up and roll off. Because of this chemical bond with glass, Aquapel is reported to last much longer than silicone-based rain repellents. Aquapel has gained popularity in microfluidic based biochemistry, specifically the Drop-Seq method pioneered by the McCarroll lab at Harvard.

References

External links

Harvard's McCarroll Lab's Drop-Seq PageOfficial website for the Aquapel productAutoblog - Rain-X versus PPG Aquapel: Grudge Match (April 2006)University of Michigan Study: The Influence of Hydrophobic Windshield Coating on Driver Visual Performance (July 1997)Aquapel in Russia
Glass trademarks and brands PPG Industries {{glass-engineering-stub