Highly efficient LED lens biologically inspired from cuticle nanostructures of firefly light organs

Abstract

This work reports an engineering inspiration of lantern's nanocuticles found in a firefly. It includes the first observation of antireflective structures on the lighting organ and a novel application for highly efficient LED illumination. The nanocuticular patterns contribute to highly efficient light extraction of high transmission and high out-coupling of luminescent light.The nanopatterns are employed on the lens surface for highly efficient light extraction. A bioinspired lens for highly efficient LED illumination was successfully fabricated by using colloidal lithography, RIE, and replica molding method. Transmission through a lens with nanopattern arrays is increased by 4.3%, compared to a smooth LED lens. We strongly believe this device can be effectively utilized for diverse high efficient LED lighting applications.