title: Tuning the peak position of subwavelength silica nanosphere broadband antireflection coatings.
abstract: Subwavelength nanostructures are considered as promising building blocks for antireflection and light trapping applications. In this study, we demonstrate excellent broadband antireflection effect from thin films of monolayer silica nanospheres with a diameter of 100 nm prepared by Langmuir-Blodgett method on glass substrates. With a single layer of compact silica nanosphere thin film coated on both sides of a glass, we achieved maximum transmittance of 99% at 560 nm. Furthermore, the optical transmission peak of the nanosphere thin films can be tuned over the UV-visible range by changing processing parameters during Langmuir-Blodgett deposition. The tunable optical transmission peaks of the Langmuir-Blodgett films were correlated with deposition parameters such as surface pressure, surfactant concentration, ageing of suspensions and annealing effect. Such peak-tunable broadband antireflection coating has wide applications in diversified industries such as solar cells, windows, displays and lenses.
authors.affiliation: School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, 2199 Lishui Road, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Electrical Engineering Division, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK.
authors.forename: Pritesh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hiralal
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Key Lab of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, 2199 Lishui Road, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
authors.forename: Lianbing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Key Lab of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, 2199 Lishui Road, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.11 ZhongGuanCun BeiYiTiao, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Electrical Engineering Division, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK.
authors.forename: Gehan Aj
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Amaratunga
authors.affiliation: School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, 2199 Lishui Road, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: Antireflection; Langmuir-Blodgett; Light trapping; Peak tunable; Solar cells; Spheres