Large-area, efficient, and flexible composite nano-structure fabrication platform for a visible-mid-infrared metamaterial absorber

Metamaterials based on different nano-structures have proceeded the landscape of possibilities in several fields, such as perfect absorption, sensing application, photovoltaic devices, and so on. Here, we design a composite fabrication platform consisting of the microsphere’s self-assembly technology, reactive ion etching, and magnetron sputtering, which can fabricate nano-cone structures, nano-volcano structures, and nano-hole structures with 10 cm ² scale in an efficient and low-cost way. Our composite fabrication platform can adjust the geometric parameters and substrate of nano-structures flexibly. What’s more, an ultra-broadband metamaterial absorber, composed of multi-layered cermet thin films and nano-volcano structure, is successfully fabricated with this fabrication platform. The ridge diameter of the nano-volcano structure can be deemed as a new design degree of freedom to regulate its absorption performance. The average absorbance is more than 94.6% from 300 nm to 10450 nm and shows a bending and heat resistance, which shows excellent potential engineering value.