In situ formation of artificial moth-eye structure by spontaneous nano-phase separation

Tong Li; Junhui He; Yue Zhang; Lin Yao; Tingting Ren; Binbin Jin

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-19414-x

In situ formation of artificial moth-eye structure by spontaneous nano-phase separation

Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 18;8(1):1082. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-19414-x.

Authors

Tong Li^{1

2}, Junhui He³, Yue Zhang¹, Lin Yao¹, Tingting Ren^{1

2}, Binbin Jin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Functional Nanomaterials Laboratory, Center for Micro/Nanomaterials and Technology, and Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongguancundonglu 29, Haidianqu, Beijing, 100190, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Functional Nanomaterials Laboratory, Center for Micro/Nanomaterials and Technology, and Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongguancundonglu 29, Haidianqu, Beijing, 100190, China. jhhe@mail.ipc.ac.cn.

Abstract

Unprecedented in situ formation of artificial moth-eye structure is demonstrated by spontaneous nano-phase separation of a silica-based system on substrate. The moth-eye thin film with a homogenously distributed nipples array shows broadband antireflection functionalities. The mechanism of nano-phase separation is unveiled as spinodal decomposition by chemical freezing method and thermodynamic analysis. The current method may provide a new avenue to ready fabrication of patterned nanostructures toward a variety of applications.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Models, Theoretical
Nanostructures / chemistry*
Nanostructures / ultrastructure*
Surface Properties