Fabrication of anti‐reflection coatings on plastics using the spraying layer‐by‐layer self‐assembly technique

Abstract

Anti-reflection (AR) coatings on plastic substrates have been extensively investigated with the development of large-area LCD and LED displays. A robust AR coating on plastics requires strong adhesion to the substrate, precise thickness and refractive index, and abrasion resistance. In this paper, abrasion-resistant AR coatings were fabricated on polycarbonate substrates using the layer-by-layer spraying deposition of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and silica nanoparticles. The adhesion between the substrates and coatings was enhanced by treating the polycarbonate surfaces with aminopropyltrimethoxylsilane (APTS). The porous low-refractive-index PAH/silica-nanoparticles multilayers were constructed by the layer-by-layer spraying of PAH and silica-nanoparticles aqueous solutions onto the functionalized substrates. The subsequent treatment of the porous coatings with tetrahydroxylsilane leads to stable abrasion-resistant AR coatings. The resultant AR coatings can reduce the reflection from 5 to 0.3%. The reported technique provides a cost-effective method for large-scale production of AR coatings on plastic substrates.

Biomimetic broadband antireflection gratings on solar-grade multicrystalline silicon wafers

“…Similarly, the high surface roughness hinders the fabrication of moth-eye AR gratings by most of the available top-down and bottom-up technologies which typically require a flat substrate surface (e.g., a uniform photoresist layer is essential for lithographic patterning). 4,10,11 Although some available techniques such as spray deposition could create colloidal template on rough substrates, [18][19][20] reproducible fabrication of monolayer colloidal crystals with good crystalline quality is still challenging.…”

Spray‐Assisted Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Buildup: from Step‐by‐Step to Single‐Step Polyelectrolyte Film Constructions

“…[81] They also addressed the problem by depositing alternately polyanions and nanosilica particles followed by a thermal treatment to allow sintering between the particles and confer mechanical stability to the film. [82] Recently, Chundler et al [83] proposed to use spray assisted LbL associated with a sol-gel treatment to create abrasion-resistant antireflection coatings on polycarbonate substrates. Like Rubner and Cohen, they alternately deposited PAH and silica nanoparticles on the substrate.…”

Layer‐by‐Layer Processed Multilayers: Challenges and Opportunities

“…New developments in the spray-assembly of LbL coatings look very promising in this regard, and much effort is currently devoted to the development of this process. Since the initial publication [64] showing that multilayers comparable to those obtained by dip assembly can be realized much faster by simply spraying the various solutions onto surfaces, this area has expanded rapidly [61,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80] and is quickly moving toward technologically viable commercial products [81].…”