Nanoporous anodized aluminum oxide-coated polycarbonate surface: Tailoring of transmittance and reflection properties

Nanostructured coatings increase the transmittance and decrease the reflection of polycarbonate (PC). In this work, nanoporous anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) coating was formed electrochemically on a PC surface. The reflection properties of the AAO-coated PC were modified by varying the thickness of the AAO layer, the anodization parameters, and the pore size of AAO. Transmittance and reflection were measured by ellipsometry. The optical transmittance of the AAO film on PC was 86–94% in the wavelength range 420–780 nm, which was about four percentage units higher than the transmittance of uncoated PC. The minimum reflection of 0.2% was observed for PC with an AAO coating of 177 nm. The reflection was about five percentage units less than the corresponding value for uncoated polycarbonate. Nanoporous surfaces and profiles of AAO were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope.