Unique anti-reflective and self-cleaning plastic films to be ramped up for industry use
Fast, high-volume production of plastics with specially engineered surfaces will soon be available using a cheaper and simpler method. IMRE and its Industrial Consortium On Nanoimprint (ICON) partner companies are piloting roll-to-roll nanoimprint technology to mass produce two types of patterned nanoimprinted plastic films. These are films with low reflectivity and better viewing angles, as well as durable, scratch-resistant films with self-cleaning surfaces. This technology can be more cost effective than conventional batch production as ICON uses roll-to-roll processing, which enables the continuous, high throughput production of such materials on a large scale. Potential applications of such mass-produced anti-reflective films are in the mobile device and tablet markets while the self-cleaning plastics can be applied to surfaces such as walls of buildings.