Inverse Moth Eye Nanostructures with Enhanced Antireflection and Contamination Resistance

Abstract

Moth-eye-inspired nanostructures are highly useful for antireflection applications. However, block copolymer micelle lithography, an effective method to prepare moth eye nanopillars, can only be used on a limited choice of substrates. Another drawback of nanopillar substrates is that contamination is easily absorbed, thereby reducing transmittance. The production of antireflective surfaces that are contamination-resistant or that can be cleaned easily without the loss of optical properties remains challenging. Here, we describe an approach for creating inverse moth eye nanostructures on other optical substrates than the most commonly used fused silica. We demonstrate its feasibility by fabricating a borosilicate substrate with inverse nanostructures on both sides. The etching of nanoholes on both sides of the substrate improves its transmittance by 8%, thereby surpassing the highest increase of transmittance yet to be obtained with nanopillars on fused silica. More importantly, the substrate with inverse moth eye nanostructures is more robust against contaminations than the substrates with nanopillars. No significant decrease in performance is observed after five cycles of repeated contamination and cleaning. Our approach is transferable to a variety of optical materials, rendering our antireflection nanostructures ideal for applications in touch devices such as touch screens and display panels.