New Anti-Reflective Plastic Coming to Market

The Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), which is a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR), announced the development of a new plastic that reflects 0.09 to 0.2 percent of the visible light hitting its surface. Anti-reflective plastics can be used in applications such as electronics displays and solar cells. The IMRE claims that other anti-reflective/anti-glare plastics on the market have reported reflectivity of around 1 percent of visible light. Because of the nanotechnology method used, the plastic developed by IMRE maintains reflectivity of less than 0.7% at angles up to 45 degrees. This means that TV viewers can have wider viewing angles with less glare and organic solar cells have larger areas for light absorption. The technology is currently being licensed to several companies by Exploit Technologies Pte. Ltd., the technology transfer arm of ASTAR. "We are also developing complementary research that allows the technology to be easily ramped-up to an industrial scale, " said Dr. Low Hong Yee, the senior scientist who is leading the research. The plastic material uses nano-imprint technology, which relies on engineering the physical aspects of the plastics rather than using chemicals to change the properties of the plastic. It is the same concept behind Hitachi's 2006 attempt to make ultra-thin, near 1 TB compact discs. The technology allows researchers to create complex, hierarchical anti-reflective structures where nanometer-sized structures are placed on top of other microstructures, forming special patterns that reduce glare and reflection and provide wider viewing angles than other plastics, according to the IMRE. Source: appliancedesign.com