Nanofeatured anti-reflective films manufactured using hot roller imprinting and self-assembly nanosphere lithography

This paper details the continuous fabrication of nanofeatured anti-reflective films for solar cells, using hot roller imprinting and self-assembly nanosphere lithography. Polystyrene nanospheres of different sizes (471, 628, and 1200 nm) were first self-assembled onto Silicon substrates by a spin coater. A thin layer of aluminum was then deposited onto the surface of nanosphere-patterned substrates, using the plasma sputtering technique. After electroforming, nickel–cobalt membranes containing nano-arrays of different sizes were obtained. The membranes were then attached to the surface of the metallic roller in a hot roller imprinting facility. The imprinting facility was used to replicate the nanofeatures onto 60 μm thick polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films. The imprinted films were characterized using water contact angle measurement, a UV–vis spectrophotometer, atomic force microscope (AFM), and scanning electron microscope (SEM); the enhancement efficiency of the nanofeatured films for the solar cells was also measured by a solar simulator. The measured results suggested that the imprinted films could effectively reduce the reflectance and increase the conversion efficiency of solar cells.

► We develop self-assembly nanosphere lithography and hot roller embossing techniques. ► We fast fabricate nanofeatured anti-reflective protective layers. ► Fabricated films could effectively increase the conversion efficiency.