During a prolonged drought in Australia at the start of this century, scientists there from a number of research institutions, including Pr. David Solomon, inventor of the polymer banknote, set about developing a product that is efficacious, resistant to the deleterious effects of wind, and affordable. In addition to small and large scale field trials, new techniques were utilised including a novel evaporation tank with a controlled climate system to mimic the effects of wind and waves, and computational modelling was for the first time employed to relate dynamic and geometric properties at the atomistic level, with evaporation suppressing performance at the macroscopic level.
The use of ethylene glycol monooctadecyl ether was found to substantially decrease evaporation resistance in the presence of wind, and the addition of a water-soluble polymer further enhanced its effectiveness.