Abstract
Reflection losses at optical interfaces are detrimental for many applications in optics and optoelectronics. Antireflection coatings (ARCs) are typically based on the principle that light reflected at the ARC’s interfaces interferes destructively to maximise light transmission. Advances in the fabrication of porous thin films have enabled to achieve refractive indices low enough to meet conditions for zero-reflectance off substrate materials like glass. Yet, many widespread applications require robustness and self-cleaning of ARCs, as well as low processing temperatures and compatibility with plastic substrates. In this chapter a new concept is presented which relies on the use of a high molecular weight block copolymer system with a large volume fraction of the hydrophobic block in combination with silica sol-gel chemistry. Spontaneous dense packing of colloidal micelles results in the co-assembly of the inorganic material in an inverse-opal like morphology. Subsequent removal of the polymer host leads to robust and continuous inorganic films with refractive indices as low as 1.13. The polymer-driven self-assembly route to ultralow refractive index films enables to replace up to 50 w% silica with high refractive index photocatalytic TiO2 nanocrystals, which freely disperse within the inorganic network. The resulting ARCs show good optical and self-cleaning properties and can be processed onto flexible plastic substrates.
Work in preparation for publication by Guldlin et al. [1].
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
S. Guldin, P. Kohn, M. Stefik, J. Song, G. Divitini, C. Ducati, U. Wiesner, U. Steiner, Self-cleaning antireflective optical coatings, manuscript under review
J. von Fraunhofer, Versuche über die Ursachen des Anlaufens und Mattwerdens des Glases und die Mittel, densselben zuvorzukommen”, Verlag der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1817)
L. Raighleigh, On the intensity of light reflected from certain surfaces at nearly perpendicular incidence. Proc. Roy. Soc. 41, 275–294 (1886)
H. Macleod, Thin Film Optical Filters, 3rd edn. (Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol, 2001)
D. Bruggeman, Calculation of various physics constants in heterogenous substances. I. dielectricity constants and conductivity of mixed bodies from isotropic substances. Annalen Der Physik 24(7), 636–664 (1935)
D. Bergman, D. Stroud, Physical-properties of macroscopically inhomogeneous-media, in Solid State Physics: Advances in Research and applications, vol. 46 (Academic Press Inc, 1992), pp. 147–269.
N. Hutchinson, T. Coquil, A. Navid, L. Pilon, Effective optical properties of highly ordered mesoporous thin films. Thin Solid Films 518(8), 2141–2146 (2010)
S. Walheim, E. Schäffer, J. Mlynek, U. Steiner, Nanophase-separated polymer films as high-performance antireflection coatings. Science 283(5401), 520–522 (1999)
S. Kim, J. Cho, K. Char, Thermally stable antireflective coatings based on nanoporous organosilicate thin films. Langmuir 23(12), 6737–6743 (2007)
H. Hattori, Anti-reflection surface with particle coating deposited by electrostatic attraction. Adv. Mater. 13(1), 51–54 (2001)
D. Lee, M. Rubner, R. Cohen, All-nanoparticle thin-film coatings. Nano Lett. 6(10), 2305–2312 (2006)
A. Gombert, W. Glaubitt, K. Rose, J. Dreibholz, B. Bläsi, A. Heinzel, D. Sporn, W. Döll, V. Wittwer, Subwavelength-structured antireflective surfaces on glass. Thin Solid Films 351(1–2), 73–78 (1999)
M. Hawkeye, M. Brett, Glancing angle deposition: fabrication, properties, and applications of micro- and nanostructured thin films. J Vacuum Sci. Technol. A 25(5), 1317–1335 (2007)
J.-Q. Xi, M. Schubert, J. Kim, E. Schubert, M. Chen, S.-Y. Lin, W. Liu, J. Smart, Optical thin-film materials with low refractive index for broadband elimination of fresnel reflection. Nat. Photonics 1(3), 176–179 (2007)
C. Bernhard, Structural and functional adaptation in a visual system. Endeavour 26(98), 79–84 (1967)
S. Wilson, M. Hutley, The optical-properties of moth eye antireflection surfaces. Optica Acta 29(7), 993–1009 (1982)
P. Clapham, M. Hutley, Reduction of lens reflection by moth eye principle. Nature 244(5414), 281–282 (1973)
Y. Li, J. Zhang, S. Zhu, H. Dong, F. Jia, Z. Wang, Z. Sun, L. Zhang, Y. Li, H. Li, W. Xu, B. Yang, Biomimetic surfaces for high-performance optics. Adv. Mater. 21(46), 4731–4734 (2009)
T. Lohmüller, M. Helgert, M. Sundermann, R. Brunner, J. Spatz, Biomimetic interfaces for high-performance optics in the deep-uv light range. Nano Lett. 8(5), 1429–1433 (2008)
I. Parkin, R. Palgrave, Self-cleaning coatings. J. Mater. Chem. 15, 1689–1695 (2005)
X.-T. Zhang, O. Sato, M. Taguchi, Y. Einaga, T. Murakami, A. Fujishima, Self-cleaning particle coating with antireflection properties. Chem. Mat. 17(3), 696–700 (2005)
X. Zhang, A. Fujishima, M. Jin, A. Emeline, T. Murakami, Double-layered TiO\(_2\)-SiO\(_2\) nanostructured films with self-cleaning and antireflective properties. J. Phys. Chem. B 110(50), 25142–25148 (2006)
M. Faustini, L. Nicole, C. Boissiere, P. Innocenzi, C. Sanchez, D. Grosso, Hydrophobic, antireflective, self-cleaning, and antifogging sol-gel coatings: an example of multifunctional nanostructured materials for photovoltaic cells. Chem. Mater. 22(15), 4406–4413 (2010)
P. Hartmann, D.-K. Lee, B. Smarsly, J. Janek, Mesoporous TiO\(_2\): comparison of classical sol-gel and nanoparticle based photoelectrodes for the water splitting reaction. ACS Nano 4(6), 3147–3154 (2010)
“Terrestrial reference spectra for photovoltaic performance evaluation, g173–03”, American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/spectra/am1.5, (1999)
M. Templin, A. Franck, A. DuChesne, H. Leist, Y. Zhang, R. Ulrich, V. Schädler, U. Wiesner, Organically modified aluminosilicate mesostructures from block copolymer phases. Science 278(5344), 1795–1798 (1997)
M. Niederberger, M. Bartl, G. Stucky, Benzyl alcohol and titanium tetrachloride–a versatile reaction system for the nonaqueous and low-temperature preparation of crystalline and luminescent titania nanoparticles. Chem. Mater. 14(10), 4364–4370 (2002)
M. Rubinstein, R. Colby, Polymer Physics, 1st edn. (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003)
H. Jaeger, S. Nagel, Physics of the granular state. Science 255(5051), 1523–1531 (1992)
J. Kobler, B. Lotsch, G. Ozin, T. Bein, Vapor-sensitive bragg mirrors and optical isotherms from mesoporous nanoparticle suspensions. ACS Nano 3(7), 1669–1676 (2009)
C. Lopez-Lopez, S. Colodrero, S. Raga, H. Lindstrom, F. Fabregat-Santiago, J. Bisquert, H. Míguez, Enhanced diffusion through porous nanoparticle optical multilayers. J. Mater. Chem. 22(5), 1751–1757 (2012)
L. Landstrom, D. Brodoceanu, N. Arnold, K. Piglmayer, D. Bäuerle, Photonic properties of silicon-coated colloidal monolayers. Appl. Phys. A-Mater. Sci. Process. 81(5), 911–913 (2005)
H.-Y. Hsueh, H.-Y. Chen, M.-S. She, C.-K. Chen, R.-M. Ho, S. Gwo, H. Hasegawa, E. Thomas, Inorganic gyroid with exceptionally low refractive index from block copolymer templating. Nano Lett. 10(12), 4994–5000 (2010)
M. Niederberger, Nonaqueous sol-gel routes to metal oxide nanoparticles. Acc. Chem. Res. 40(9), 793–800 (2007)
P. Tanev, M. Chibwe, T. Pinnavaia, Titanium-containing mesoporous molecular-sieves for catalytic-oxidation of aromatic-compounds. Nature 368(6469), 321–323 (1994)
F. Krebs, Fabrication and processing of polymer solar cells: a review of printing and coating techniques. Solar Energ. Mater. Solar Cells 93(4), 394–412 (2009)
B.G. Kum, Y.C. Park, Y.J. Chang, J.Y. Jeon, H.M. Jang, Single-layered porous silica films on polyethylene terephthalate substrates for antireflection coatings. Thin Solid Films 519(11), 3778–3781 (2011)
T. Yanagishita, K. Nishio, H. Masuda, Anti-reflection structures on lenses by nanoimprinting using ordered anodic porous alumina. Appl. Phys. Express 2(2), 022001 (2009).
K. Nakata, M. Sakai, T. Ochiai, T. Murakami, K. Takagi, A. Fujishima, Antireflection and self-cleaning properties of a moth-eye-like surface coated with TiO\(_2\) particles. Langmuir 27(7), 3275–3278 (2011)
P. Kohn, S. Guldin, U. Wiesner, U. Steiner, Crystal growth in block copolymer assembled TiO\(_2\) networks, in preparation
Y. Paz, Z. Luo, L. Rabenberg, A. Heller, Photooxidative self-cleaning transparent titanium-dioxide films on glass. J. Mater. Res. 10(11), 2842–2848 (1995)
A. Mills, A. Lepre, N. Elliott, S. Bhopal, I. Parkin, S. O’Neill, Characterisation of the photocatalyst Pilkington Activ: a reference film photocatalyst? J. Photochem. Photobiol. A Chem. 160(3), 213–224 (2003)
H. Tang, K. Prasad, R. Sanjines, P. Schmid, F. Levy, Electrical and optical properties of TiO\(_2\) anatase thin-films. J. Appl. Phys. 75(4), 2042–2047 (1994)
B. Ohtani, Y. Ogawa, S. Nishimoto, Photocatalytic activity of amorphous-anatase mixture of titanium(IV) oxide particles suspended in aqueous solutions. J. Phys. Chem. B 101(19), 3746–3752 (1997)
H. Schmidt, H. Wolter, Organically modified ceramics and their applications. J. Non-Cryst. Solids 121(1–3), 428–435 (1990)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Guldin, S. (2013). Block Copolymer Assembled Antireflective Coatings with Self-Cleaning Properties. In: Inorganic Nanoarchitectures by Organic Self-Assembly. Springer Theses. Springer, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00312-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00312-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00311-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00312-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)