Fabrication of single-layer antireflective coating with environmental stability by modified SiO2 mixed sol

The single-layer antireflective coating (ARC) is fabricated by sol-gel method using mixed sol modified by methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) hydrolyzed sol. The surface morphologies and structure, optical properties and wetting behavior are affected by the amount of MTES hydrolyzed sol are investigated. Via dip coating the modified sol on glass substrates, environmental stability and mechanical properties are also examined. In the modification process, the ARC exhibits a hydrophobic surface with a highest water contact angle (WCA) of 126.53°. Sand adhered to coating could be easily washed away, confirming that the ARC exhibits prominent self-cleaning property. Moreover, the ARC appears excellent in environmental stability. After the 30-day damp test and self-cleaning test, the attenuation of solar-weighted transmittance (Тsw) is only 0.04% and 0.02%, respectively. Additionally, this ARC exhibits a total solar-weighted transmittance (Тsw) higher than 95.06% over a wavelength range of 380–1100 nm, significantly higher than those of bare glass substrates (Тsw=91.5%). The ARC has highly promising applicability in the solar fields. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.