A novel route to control refractive index of sol-gel derived nano-porous silica films used as broadband antireflective coatings

A relatively new method to adjust refractive index of nano-porous silica films rapidly and continuously is reported. The thin films were prepared with the base/acid two-step catalytic sol-gel process and the dip-coating method. The structure, reflective spectra and refractive index of the films were analyzed with TEM, AFM, SEM, spectrophotometer, and ellipsometery, respectively. The experimental results have shown that the base/acid two-step catalysis can adjust the refractive index of the nano-porous silica films from 1.18 to 1.42 rapidly and continuously. And a broadband antireflective coating made with the method has very low reflectance. The average reflectance of the coated glass in the solar energy spectrum decreases to 1.5% from ∼7% of the glass.