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Biomimetic non-uniform nanostructures reduce broadband reflectivity in transparent substrates

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Abstract

The remarkable broadband and omnidirectional anti-reflectivity observed in the glasswing butterfly arises from the random array of nanopillars present on their wings. In the present study, analogous structures have been replicated on transparent substrates using a scalable, low-cost method that exploits surface dewetting of silver thin films on silica substrates to form an etch mask. Directional etching was applied with high selectivity between Ag and SiO2 using CHF3, allowing large aspect ratios to be achieved with 20 min etches. Single-sided nanostructuring of glass by this method improved the transmission of light by 2–8% for viewing angles of 25°, 45°, and 65°.

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Acknowledgments

The early stage of this work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Singapore through the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology’s Low Energy Electronic System interdisciplinary research group. The opportunity for this research was provided by Materials Solutions for Sustainability (MADMEC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MADMEC is supported by the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Dow Chemical, and Saint-Gobain. We would like to thank Dr. Michael Tarkanian and Professor Carl Thompson for their feedback on experimental design. We are grateful to Dr. Michael Christiansen and Dr. Andrei Sourakov for reviewing the manuscript and providing useful suggestions.

Figure 1b reprinted with permission from [Springer Nature Customer Service Centre GmbH]: [Springer Nature] [NATURE COMMUNICATIONS] [R. H. Siddique, G. Gomard, H. Holscher, Nat. Commun. 6, 6909 (2015). (The role of random nanostructures for the omnidirectional anti-reflection properties of the glasswing butterfly, Radwanul Hasan Siddique, Guillaume Gomard, Hendrik Holscher), [COPYRIGHT 2015].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Alexandra A. Sourakov & Ahmed Al-Obeidi

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  1. Alexandra A. Sourakov
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  2. Ahmed Al-Obeidi
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Correspondence to Alexandra A. Sourakov.

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The supplementary material for this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.57

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Sourakov, A.A., Al-Obeidi, A. Biomimetic non-uniform nanostructures reduce broadband reflectivity in transparent substrates. MRS Communications 9, 637–643 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.57

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