Solid hydrophilic transparant materials that don't dissolve in water I am looking for hydrophilic transparant materials which are solid at room temperature and that don't dissolve in water. I need these for an experiment in which I condense droplets on a plate made out of/or coated with the material

Just thinking `chemically' I imagine that any polymer with a lot of hydroxyl groups will be hydrophilic (like Polyvinylalcohol), but PVA is water soluble. Polyethylenetereftalate (PET) is reasonable but still has a contact angle around 70 degrees (common polymer contact angles)

Does anybody know transparant materials with contact angles closer to 0 that don't dissolve in water? An additional `demand' is that the material does not break easily (like glass)
Several commercially available titanium dioxide coatings are available, commonly used to kill bacteria or aid UV stability (I think). When exposed to light, the titanium dioxide has a contact angle of almost 0 degrees.

You should be able to deposit a thin layer on something like a PVA or polycarbonate sheet. The commercial coatings are somewhat expensive, though, as far as I can tell, and the common process for doing it yourself involves heating the surface in a mid-temperature flame for 10-15 minutes which excludes pretty much all plastics I know of that would otherwise be suitable.