Mechanically stable single-layer mesoporous silica antireflective coating on solar glass

A single-layer antireflective (SLAR) coating with extremely high photovoltaic transmittance (T-PV) at 400-1100 nm was designed with the aid of thin film design software (TFCalc (TM)). The AR coating was prepared by evaporation-induced self-assembly using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as precursor and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as template. The measured PV transmittance reaches as high as 98.7%, which is in good agreement with the theoretical value. Meanwhile this SLAR coating has excellent mechanical robustness, which passed the 3H pencil hardness test and abrasion test. This SLAR coating with high transmittance and good mechanical properties will find important application in the field of solar cells.