Versatile Antireflection Coating for Plastics: Partial Embedding of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles onto Substrate Surface

Abstract

Antireflection (AR) coating for transparent plastic substrates is constructed by partially embedding mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) onto the surface of the substrates. Simulation of optical properties of polymer substrates coated with a single-particle MSN layer indicates that the surface has a low and graded refractive index in the direction of the thickness and effectively decreases the reflectance of visible light. The MSN-coated surfaces can be prepared by exposure of the MSN-painted substrates to a solvent vapor, irrespective of the shape of the polymer substrates. The plastic substrates with a single-particle layer of MSNs with diameters of 145-165 nm exhibit high transparency and good AR behavior as simulated. The mesoporous structures of MSNs play important roles not only in decreasing the refractive index but also in strengthening the adhesion between MSNs and substrate surfaces. Moreover, fixation of MSNs onto a thermosetting epoxy resin is successfully achieved by transfer of a single layer of MSNs from flexible films for which MSNs are weakly bonded. The present simple AR coating is applicable to a wide range of substrates with various materials and shapes, and useful for various applications such as optical devices, displays, and solar cells.

Dendritic Silica Particles with Well-Dispersed Ag Nanoparticles for Robust Antireflective and Antibacterial Nanocoatings on Polymeric Glass

“…In order to enhance the firmness of particles on the surface of PMMA slides, the treatment of chloroform vapor is adopted to make the particles partially embedding into the PMMA. 11 The embedded depths are controlled by tuning the volumes of chloroform. After vapor treatment, the ultrasonic processing is performed to remove the unembedded particles, thus forming a monolayer particle film.…”

“…The adhesion force between the large particles with sizes of above 100 nm and the substrate surface is usually weak, which is very disadvantageous for practical application. In order to enhance the firmness of particles on the surface of PMMA slides, the treatment of chloroform vapor is adopted to make the particles partially embedding into the PMMA . The embedded depths are controlled by tuning the volumes of chloroform.…”

“…One is by reshaping the surface to create porous or well-defined periodic nanostructures. − However, their main shortcoming is their poor wear resistance. The other is by forming the ceramic-based AR porous nanocoatings with excellent wear resistance. − However, it usually needs the relatively complicated steps to remove the pore-forming agents and strengthen the adhesion between nanocoating and substrate. In addition, much effort has been devoted to fabricate antibacterial nanocoatings by introducing antibacterial agents to kill bacteria and/or creating nanostructures to decrease the bacterial adhesion. − However, high antibacterial activity of nanocoatings often results in the remarkable decrease of transparency. − …”

Universal Low-Temperature Process for Preparation of Multifunctional High-Performance Antireflective Mesoporous Silica Coatings on Transparent Polymeric Substrates

“…Bayindir et al 20 coated CA showed about 95% transmission at 600 nm. Tanaka and Mizoshita 21 prepared AR coatings on transparent PMMA substrates by partially embedding mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) onto the surface; the obtained MSN-coated PMMA showed peak transmittance approaching 98%. However, the aforementioned fabrication approaches need a complicated process and take a long time and their optical and mechanical performances are not satisfactory.…”

Optimization of Shapes and Sizes of Moth-Eye-Inspired Structures for the Enhancement of Their Antireflective Properties

“…There are many ways used to synthesize the AR surface [1][2][3][4], but nature-inspired structures with moth-eye-shapes are typically applied to a wide range of applications [5][6][7][8][9][10]. In particular, bioinspired surfaces are applied to optical devices such as in the display panels of electronic devices [11,12], and to eco-friendly energy devices such as solar cells [13][14][15][16]. These AR surfaces of moth-eye-inspired structures have various shapes and sizes depending on the fabrication method, thus realizing increased optical performances.…”