UV-cured organic–inorganic composites for highly durable and flexible antireflection coatings

• Published in: Applied surface science 2022-05, Vol.584, p.152600, Article 152600
• Main Authors: Shu, Panjing, Ai, Ling, Kong, Yunhui, Ji, Hong, Lu, Yuehui, Zhang, Jing, Song, Weijie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Flexible antireflection coatings; Mechanical and environmental stability; Organic-inorganic composites; UV-cured
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.152600

[Display omitted] •A novel organic–inorganic hybrid coating was designed and prepared on flexible polymer substrate by UV curing.•The coatings show broadband antireflection property from 400 to 2000 nm wavelength.•The effective inter- and intra- molecular crosslinking enhance the anti-abrasion and environmental durability of the coating. In this work, we develop novel UV-cured composite antireflection films by using UV curable silsesquioxanes (GPOSS) as the organic network and acidic silica sols as the inorganic parts. The composite films can be rapidly crosslinked and solidified under UV light and UV ozone exposure, respectively. The final coatings exhibit broadband antireflective properties with average transmittance of 92.71% from 400 nm to 2000 nm, and the coatings display mechanical robustness with relative transmittance reduced of only 0.38% and 0.08% after cyclic scrubbing and tape-peeling tests. Due to synergetic effect from vigorous organic-organic intramolecular crosslinking and delicate organic–inorganic intermolecular crosslinking, the coatings achieve good environmental durability with negligible optical loss after 48 h HAST test. By this design, the present UV cured composites pave the way to select novel functional materials for robust flexible antireflection use. And the method in this work opens up prospective opportunities for large-scale, flexible, and rapid coating preparation with multiple performances, which can be used to transparent displays and various flexible opto-electronic devices.