Design of a novel anti-reflective coating with ultra-low reflectance based on resin-anchored hollow silica strategy

The strategy of resin-anchored hollow silica particles (HSPs) offers a tempting option for large-scale fabrication of anti-reflective functional surfaces on flexible plastic substrates. However, attempts to experimentally investigate the structure-performance relationship of such anti-reflective coatings and to further optimize the coating structure require long experimental cycles and significant labor costs. In view of this, the effectiveness of using COMSOL two-dimensional (2D) simulation to solve the problem is validated in conjunction with experimental results. Then three coating structure models are investigated. Finally, a coating with ultra-low reflectance in the entire visible wavelength band (380–780 nm) is designed. The coating has a novel structure consisting of resin-anchored double-layer unequal-size HSPs. It combines two anti-reflective principles, the moth-eye bionic structure and the refractive index adjustment of the film layer. The maximum reflectance of the coating is only 0.32 % over the entire visible wavelength range, and its average reflectance reaches an ultra-low level of 0.14 %. The coating has a wide angle anti-reflective performance. When the angle of incidence is <60°, the reflectance of the coating is <3 %. The results of this study are expected to provide direction for later experimental improvements.