Improved antireflection properties of moth eye mimicking nanopillars on transparent glass: flat antireflection and color tuning

Abstract

The sub-wavelength structures in moth eyes exhibit fascinating antireflective properties over the broadband wavelength region and at large incident angle by generating an air-mixed heterogeneous optical interface. In this work, antireflective behavior of transparent glass is observed with the elaborate controls of the nanopillar morphology. The reflectance spectrum shows a red shift and a notable light scattering with increase of the height of the nanopillars. The nanopillar arrays with a pointed cone shape have better optical performance in visible range than the rounded cone shape which is typical antireflective nanostructures in nature. Based on the observed antireflective behaviors, the flat and low value reflectance spectrum in the visible wavelength range is demonstrated by moth eye mimicking nanostructures on both sides of a glass surface. It is a unique strategy to realize a flat and broadband spectrum in the visible range showing 99% transparency via the appropriate matching of nanopillar height on the front and back sides of glass. The controlled reflection based color tuning on the antireflective and transparent glass is also obtained by adjusting the height of the nanopillar arrays on both sides. The visibility and self-cleaning ability of moth eye mimicking glass are examined for practical applications such as antireflection and self-cleaning.