Recent advances in antireflective surfaces based on nanostructure arrays

Abstract

Reducing the reflection and improving the transmission or absorption of light from wide angles of incidence in a broad wavelength range are crucial for enhancing the performance of the optical, optoelectronic, and electro-optical devices. Inspired by the structures of the insect compound eyes, nanostructure arrays (NSAs) have been developed as effective antireflective surfaces, which exhibit promising broadband and quasi-omnidirectional antireflective properties together with multifunctions. This review summarizes the recent advances in the fabrication and performance of antireflective surfaces based on NSAs of a wide variety of materials including silicon and non-silicon materials. The applications of the NSA-based antireflective surfaces in solar cells, light emitting diodes, detection, and imaging are highlighted. The remaining challenges along with future trends in NSA-based antireflective surfaces are also discussed.

The role of random nanostructures for the omnidirectional anti-reflection properties of the glasswing butterfly

“…By optimizing the variance of the distribution and the shape of the pedestals, almost perfect antireflection surfaces can be engineered for a broadband range of wavelengths and a wide range of viewing angles. Such antireflective surfaces could be adapted to improve the light collection in solar cells or for an efficient light extraction of the substrate modes in light-emitting diodes or even enhancing the performance of the optical, optoelectronic and electro-optical devices, such as glasses, mirrors, lens, photodetectors, surface-emitting lasers, displays and optical sensing or imaging 20,21,[30][31][32] .…”

Laser interference fabrication of large-area functional periodic structure surface

“…To avoid these issues, multi-exposure of two-beam interference was proposed due to its flexibility and simple setup, as shown in Fig. 4 [5,12,13,[35][36][37]. In Fig.…”

Metallic Antireflection Structures Made from Silver Ink by a Liquid Transfer Imprint Lithography Technique

“…Improving the energyconversion efficiency is a key factor in producing better solar cells. To improve the light-absorption efficiencies of solar sells, their surfaces can be coated with antireflection structures (ARSs) [4][5][6][7]. In addition, light management by reflection control and light trapping utilizing plasmons in metallic nanopatterns have also been investigated [4,8,9].…”