Preparation of silica antireflective films for solar energy application

Antireflective films were fabricated by an acid-catalyzed sol-gel process using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as template. Size of SiO2 particles in the sol was measured to be in the range of 10-30 nm. The films were coated on glass substrates by dip-coating method then baked at 180 degrees C and tempered at 720 degrees C for different times. The template CTAB can be removed completely by tempering, which shortens the baking time and reinforces the bonding strength between the film and the substrate. The adhesion of the tempered films all reaches 5 B and their hardness is 3 H or above, The maximum light transmittance of 97.7% was obtained which increased about 6.0% compared with its glass substrate. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.