Composite article comprising oriented microstructures
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorMark K. Debe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention provides a composite article having discrete microstructures partially encapsulated within a layer. A method of making the same is also provided. The article of the present invention is useful for visible radiation absorbing devices, such as, for example, selective solar absorbers, flat plate solar collectors, solar absorption panels, and solar cells.
Claims37
A composite article comprising a layer having a dense array of discrete microstructures partially encapsulated therein by an encapsulant, wherein one distal end of each of said microstructures is exposed, wherein said exposed distal ends of said microstructures and a surface of said layer are on a common side of said layer, said microstructures are selected from the group consisting of organic microstructures and inorganic semiconductor microstructures, and said microstructures have a mean diameter in the range from about 1 to about 5000 nanometers, said discrete microstructures being formed on a surface of a substrate, said substrate having a surface topography, and said exposed distal ends of said microstructures, which have been delaminated from said substrate, form a surface topography that is the inverse of said surface topography of said substrate.
A composite article comprising a layer having a dense array of discrete, regularly arrayed, organic microstructures partially encapsulated therein by an encapsulant, wherein one distal end of each of said microstructures is exposed, wherein said exposed distal ends of said microstructures and a surface of said layer are on a common side of said layer, said discrete microstructures being formed on a surface of a substrate, said substrate having a surface topography, and said exposed distal ends of said microstructures, which have been delaminated from said substrate, form a surface topography that is the inverse of said surface topography of said substrate.
A composite article comprising a layer having a dense array of discrete organic microstructures partially encapsulated therein by an encapsulant, wherein one distal end of each of said microstructures is exposed, wherein said exposed distal ends of said microstructures and a surface of said layer are on a common side of said layer, said microstructures are essentially uniform in size and shape, having an aspect ratio in the range from about 3:1 to about 100:1, and have a mean diameter in the range from about 1 to about 5000 nanometers, said discrete microstructures being formed on a surface of a substrate, said substrate having a surface topography, and said exposed distal ends of said microstructures, which have been delaminated from said substrate, form a surface topography that is the inverse of said surface topography of said substrate.
A composite article comprising a layer having a dense array of discrete, organic microstructures partially encapsulated therein by an encapsulant, wherein one distal end of each of said microstructures is exposed, wherein said exposed distal ends of said microstructures and a surface of said layer are on a common side of said layer, and wherein interposed between said microstructures and said encapsulant is a conformal coating of an inorganic conformal coating material, said discrete microstructures being formed on a surface of a substrate, said substrate having a surface topography, and said exposed distal ends of said microstructures, which have been delaminated from said substrate, form a surface topography that is the inverse of said surface topography of said substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.