Development of single layer nanoparticle anti-reflection coating for polymer substrates

• Wet deposition of single layer anti-reflection coating on polymer substrates
• Low reflectance is achieved by tuning the refractive index of the layer.
• Mechanical properties investigated by environmental and steel wool tests
• Optical and mechanical properties show improvement over available coatings.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are used to fabricate single layer anti-reflection coatings on polymer substrates. High optical performance is achieved by using a binder system in conjunction with the mesoporous silica nanoparticles. The ratio of nanoparticles to binder and the process conditions were used to optimize the optical and mechanical properties of the film. This study investigates how the refractive index of the nanoparticle coating can be optimized such that it matches the properties required for zero reflectance of the underlying polymer substrate. The addition of a binder results in a mechanically robust anti-reflection coating, which shows improvement on current available technology.