High-Performance, Single-Layer Antireflective Optical Coatings Comprising Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

TLDR

The study explores how controlling the structural properties of mesoporous silica nanoparticle coatings optimizes their optical performance. The coatings are fabricated by depositing mesoporous silica nanoparticles onto glass, with binder‑to‑nanoparticle ratio tuning the refractive index. The resulting single‑layer coatings achieve <0.1 % reflectance, are mechanically robust, and exhibit broadband antireflective behavior tunable from 400 nm to 1900 nm.

Abstract

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are used to fabricate antireflectance coatings on glass substrates. The combination of mesoporous silica nanoparticles in conjunction with a suitable binder material allows mechanically robust single layer coatings with a reflectance <0.1% to be produced by simple wet processing techniques. Further advantages of these films is that their structure results in broadband antireflective properties with a reflection minimum that can tuned between 400 nm and 1900 nm. The ratio of binder material to mesoporous nanoparticles allows control of the refractive index. In this report, we discuss how control of the structural properties of the coatings allows optimization of the optical properties.