Enhancement of haze reflectance through thin-film buckling using a shape memory polymer foundation

The optical haze characteristics of buckled thin-films on a thermoresponsive shape-memory polymer(SMP) foundation have been investigated in the present study. The SMP was pre-stretched to exhibit negatively anisotropic thermal expansion, and coated with a layer of aluminum thin-film. Self-regularized grating patterns of which wavelengths range from 883 nm to 5.0 μm were obtained on the surface upon annealing due to the shape recovery of SMP. The optical haze spectra from the sample were measured using a spectrophotometer, and results show improvement of reflection haze up to 93%. The present study proposes a novel technique for facile and inexpensive fabrication of grating patterns for thin-film based organic devices.