• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2017

Functional coatings, such as anti-reflection and self-cleaning, are frequently applied to cover glass for photovoltaic applications. Anti-reflection coatings made of mesoporous silica film have been shown to enhance the light transmittance. $TiO_2$ photocatalyst films are often applied as a self-cleaning coating. In this study, transparent hydrophobic anti-reflective and self-cleaning coatings made of $SiO_2/TiO_2$ thin layers were fabricated on a slide glass substrate by the sol-gel and dip-coating processes. The morphology of the functional coatings was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The optical properties of the functional coatings were investigated using an UV-visible spectrophotometer. Contact angle measurements were performed to confirm the hydrophobicity of the surface. The results showed that the $TiO_2$ films exhibit a high transmittance comparable to that of the bare slide glass substrate. The $TiO_2$ nanoparticles make the film more reflective and lead to a lower transmittance. However, the transmittance of the $SiO_2/TiO_2$ thin layers is 93.5% at 550 nm with a contact angle of $110^{\circ}$, which is higher than that of the bare slide glass (2.0%).