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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Fabrication of Periodic Gold Nanocup Arrays Using Colloidal Lithography
Published on: September 2, 2017
Moth eye-inspired anti-reflective surfaces for improved IR optical systems & visible LEDs fabricated with colloidal
Lesley W Chan1, Daniel E Morse, Michael J Gordon
1Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, United States of America.
Abstract:
Near- and sub-wavelength photonic structures are used by numerous organisms (e.g. insects, cephalopods, fish, birds) to create vivid and often dynamically-tunable colors, as well as create, manipulate, or capture light for vision, communication, crypsis, photosynthesis, and defense. This review introduces the physics of moth eye (ME)-like, biomimetic nanostructures and discusses their application to reduce optical losses and improve efficiency of various optoelectronic devices, including photodetectors, photovoltaics, imagers, and light emitting diodes. Light-matter interactions at structured and heterogeneous surfaces over different length scales are discussed, as are the various methods used to create ME-inspired surfaces. Special interest is placed on a simple, scalable, and tunable method, namely colloidal lithography with plasma dry etching, to fabricate ME-inspired nanostructures in a vast suite of materials. Anti-reflective surfaces and coatings for IR devices and enhancing light extraction from visible light emitting diodes are highlighted.
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