Superhydrophobic antireflective coating with high transmittance

The aim of this study is to fabricate a superhydrophobic antireflective (AR) coating that can be deposited on the covering of a solar cell system. First, AR coatings were synthesized on glass substrates with an average transmittance over 96% by layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolyte. Superhydrophobic sol gel was prepared by hydrolyzing tetraethoxysilane and then reacting it with hexamethyldisilazane. The sol gel, aged at 20A degrees C for 96 h, was used to spin-coat a superhydrophobic film with a water contact angle of 163A degrees and a transmittance of similar to 91%. The superhydrophobic sol gel was spin-coated on the top of an AR coating to form a superhydrophobic AR coating on a glass substrate. The average transmittance, advancing contact angle, and contact angle hysteresis of the superhydrophobic AR coating, which was spin-coated from sol gel aged for 96 h or 168 h, were 94.5 +/- A 0.7%, 154.0A degrees A A +/- A 1.5A degrees, and 15.4A degrees A A +/- A 0.3A degrees or 96.4 +/- A 0.2%, 158.4A degrees A A +/- A 4.4A degrees, and 1.8A degrees A A +/- A 0.3A degrees, respectively. Strategies for obtaining a superhydrophobic AR coating are discussed herein.