A convenient sol-gel approach to the preparation of nano-porous silica coatings with very low refractive indices.

Silica coatings with refractive indices as low as 1.10 were prepared via a one-step base-catalysed sol-gel process using methyltriethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane as co-precursors. No expensive equipment was required and the method did not require etching or high-temperature calcination.