Universal Low-Temperature Process for Preparation of Multifunctional High-Performance Antireflective Mesoporous Silica Coatings on Transparent Polymeric Substrates.

In this work, we developed a universal low-temperature process for the preparation of multifunctional and robust mesoporous silica antireflective coatings on transparent polymeric substrates. The mesoporous silica layer was formed after UV-O3 exposure and ammonia vapor treatment of dried poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (F127)-containing acidic silica gel. The optical and antiscrubbing properties of the mesoporous silica coating were comparable to those of the coating prepared at 250 °C. The highest optical transmittance reached 99.55%, and the transmittance loss was only 1.02% after 400 scrubbing cycles. The coating surface formed by the low-temperature process was hydrophilic, resulting in excellent antifogging properties. The low-temperature process was successfully applied on various transparent polymeric substrates including polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, and polycarbonate. The excellent optical and mechanical performances of the mesoporous silica antireflective coatings on transparent polymeric substrates allow a wide range of practical applications, especially in the field of flexible electronics.