Bio-inspired fabrication of antireflection nanostructures by replicating fly eyes

In this study, we examined the fine structure of the compound eyes of a household fly and precisely replicated its entire structure using a low-temperature atomic layer deposition technique. The surface of the fly eye is found to be covered by highly packed protuberances, which potentially increases visual efficiency through increased photon capture for a given stimulus. The alumina replica was achieved by removing the fly compound eye template at high temperature, and the alumina coating was crystallized simultaneously. Besides the morphology, the unique antireflection property was also inherited by the alumina replica. By measuring the reflective spectra of the replica, we demonstrated that the alumina replica of a fly eye was an efficient antireflection structure of visible light at an incident angle up to 80 degrees. Such a grating would be particularly useful on a cured corneal surface since it could increase the transmission of incident light through the cornea compared with a smooth surface.