Antireflective silica nanoparticle array directly deposited on flexible polymer substrates by chemical vapor deposition.

We report the direct coating of a novel antireflective (AR) nanoarray structure of silica nanoparticles on highly flexible polymer substrates by a conventional vacuum coating method using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Globular-shaped silica nanoparticles are found to be self-arranged in a periodic pattern on subwavelength scales without the use of artificial assemblies that typically require complicated nanolithography or solution-based nanoparticle fabrication approaches. Highly efficient AR characteristics in the visible spectral range are obtained at optimized refractive indices by controlling the dimensions and average distances of the silica nanoparticle arrays in a level accuracy of tens of nanometers. The AR nanoarrays exhibit sufficient structural durability against the very high strain levels that arise from the flexibility of polymer substrates. This simple coating process provides a cost-effective, high-throughput, room-temperature fabrication solution for producing large-area polymer substrates with AR characteristics.