Effect of wettability on surface morphologies and optical properties of Ag thin films grown on glass and polymer substrates by thermal evaporation

► The subject matter (the influence of Ag surface morphology and substrate on the reflectance and the transmittance) is timely. ► The effect of the wettability on the morphology and optical properties of Ag/glass and Ag/polymer structures was studied by atomic force microscopy and spectrophotometry. ► The investigation results show that the wettability of Ag grains with polymer is stronger than with glass. ► The strong wettability activates the nonlinear optical properties of Ag grains grown on polymer substrates, which result in the strong absorbance in short wavelength. ► The surface morphology affects on the reflectance, and the transmittance is more influenced by the substrate material.