Refractive-tunable and hydrophobic antireflective coatings by PMHS-modification assisted sol-gel method

By a poly(methylhydrogen)siloxane (PMHS) modification assisted sol-gel method, refractive-tunable antireflective coatings (ARCs) were successfully prepared. The refractive indices of ARCs could be conveniently adjusted from 1.23 to 1.36. The water contact angle increased significantly from 27° to 128° after PMHS modification, which afforded ARCs better antireflective stability. After being kept in a closed container for 1 month with 95% relatively humidity at room temperature, the transmittance of unmodified and PMHS modified ARCs decreased by 1.6% and 0.2%, respectively.