Optical Phenomena and Antifrosting Property on Biomimetics Slippery Fluid-Infused Antireflective Films via Layer-by-Layer Comparison with Superhydrophobic and Antireflective Films

Abstract

Sophisticated material interfaces generated by natural life forms such as lotus leaves and Nepenthes pitcher plants have exceptional abilities to resolve challenges in wide areas of industry and medicine. The nano- and microstructures inspired by these natural materials can repel various liquids and form self-cleaning coatings. In particular, slippery liquid-infused surfaces are receiving remarkable interest as transparent, nonfouling, and antifrosting synthetic surfaces for solar cells and optical devices. Here we focus on the transparency of lubricant-infused texture on antireflective films fabricated by layer-by-layer self-assembly that decrease light scattering, which is important to maintain device properties. A slippery fluid-infused antireflective film composed of chitin nanofibers less than 50 nm in diameter prevented light scattering at the long-wavelength side by Rayleigh scattering to achieve 97.2% transmittance. Moreover, films composed of the same materials demonstrated three different morphologies: superhydrophilicity with antireflection, superhydrophobicity, and omniphobicity, mimicking the biological structures of moth eyes, lotus leaves, and pitcher plants, respectively. The effect of thermal changes on the ability of each film to prevent frost formation was investigated. The slippery fluid-infused antireflective film showed effective antifrosting behavior.

Semitransparent polymer-based solar cells via simple wet lamination process with TiO2 layer using automatic spray layer-by-layer method

“…1), and this process is likely to be applicable to other types of solar cells, e.g., dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) 14 or perovskite solar cells. [20][21][22][23][24] The thin lm formed by this fabrication method has many benets when compared with other fabrication methods that are suitable for industrial applications, including deposition at room temperature, large area deposition, atmospheric deposition, and use of non-toxic solutions. [16][17][18][19] Spray-LBL 19 is a technique for thin lm fabrication that was developed from the layer-by-layer self-assembly process.…”

Recent Progress in Self-Cleaning Materials with Different Suitable Applications

“…Also, Polyester which is coated with a combination of AgI/AgCl/TiO 2 has increased antimicrobial properties against E. coli and the efficiency of methylene blue Gurav et al, 2014). Materials with keratin base have been applied a lot in substances such as tires and textiles because of biodegradability (Raza et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2015;Manabe et al, 2014;Gurav et al, 2015;Shang and Zhou, 2015). Yao et al, 2011;Li et al, 2015c) …”

The Fabrication of Multifunctional SLIPS Films by Electrospinning

“…The high transparency was reflected in the good legibility of the letters underneath the film (inserted images). Literature reports have showed that poor transparency is the primary problem for lotus‐inspired electrospun materials due to the roughness factor . Herein, the lubricant‐infused electrospun film has addressed the important issue of transparency which is beneficial for practical applications in glass based anti‐wetting coatings.…”