Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin recently unveiled how sapphire nanostructures could improve your future smartphone screen, car windshield, or even home. Their novel invention takes inspiration from a moth eye to create a water, fog, and scratch-resistant material with near-endless potential. Here’s what you need to know about super sapphire and how it could make life better for everyone.
Sapphire Glass
When most people think of Sapphire, they envision a beautiful gem. However, sapphire has several other uses in today’s economy. This material is often used to make durable screens or lenses that provide a strong and scratch-resistant surface. Specifically, sapphire has a hardness ranking of nine, making it a go-to for luxury watches all the way to high-performance smartphone screens.
Problems with Sapphire Glass Today
Sapphire glass may bring a lot of benefits to the market, but it’s not perfect. For one, its hardness and chemical stability make it extremely difficult to manufacture, especially when discussing small-scale operations.
Traditional surfacing methods don’t function well on sapphire, meaning that more expensive methods are used. Luckily, a team of scientists just created a new method of manufacturing a sapphire glass material that eliminates many of these issues.
Super Sapphire Study
The study “Scratch-resistant sapphire nanostructures with anti-glare, anti-fogging, and anti-dust properties“1 published in Materials Horizons delves into how University of Texas at Austin engineers created self-cleaning sapphire-based nanostructures. Their new sapphire crystal design provides improved anti-dust, anti-glare, and added durability compared to predecessors.
To achieve enhanced optical properties, the engineers developed a nanostructure inspired by the moth eye, reducing glare and increasing light transmission. They featured a tapered profile designed to reduce optical losses on the surface. This approach creates a customizable gradient-index medium, similar to those found in silicon, silica-based glass, and polymers.
Source – University of Texas at Austin
Super Sapphire Fabrication
The team created their sapphire nanostructures in a unique manner that enables more customization. Specifically, the group first used interference lithography before integrating ion etching. This approach required the use of an etching mask to prevent damage. Notably, the engineers decided to utilize a polysilicon layer with a thickness of 1000 nm.
The next step was to coat the samples with 100 nm-thick antireflection coating and 200 nm-thick photoresist. The photoresist pattern was designed to replicate a 2D pillar array with a period of 330 nm.
From there, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching was used to transfer the pattern to the sapphire directly. Following the final etching, protective polymer film was applied, and the process was repeated from the other side.
Superhydrophilic Surface
The design of the nanostructures creates a superhydrophilic surface that wicks water via high surface energy and aspect ratio. This absorption prevents any fogging due to water condensation. It also creates a thin layer of water rather than water droplets. This thin layer adds to the lens protection from dust and other particles.
Antireflection Properties
The sapphire nanostructure’s shape and arrangement also help prevent glare. According to the research, the new design exhibited broadband and omnidirectional anti-glare properties. Specifically, the material achieved a light transmission rate of 95.8% at a wavelength of 1360 nm. Impressively, the anti-reflective properties of this material could create safer vehicles in the future.
Super Sapphire Testing
The engineers set up several different testing stages to track the capabilities of the Super Sapphire. They began with an anti-reflection test. This portion of the testing incorporated a UV-vis-NIR spectrophotometer. The device was able to take accurate measurements of the pass-through vs refracted light.
Dust Adhesion Test
The next experiments the engineers ran involved testing the nanostructures’ anti-dust capabilities. To test this feature, the engineer began by applying a thick layer of lunar dust simulant (Exolith Labs LMS-1) to both sides of the sapphire. The samples were then lifted vertically, allowing gravity to remove any non-sanded dust from the lens.
Fog Test
The fog test involved holding the lens over a cup of boiling water. The engineers then measured how the lens handled the added moisture. The engineers observed that water condensation on the nanostructured sapphire formed a thin, uniform film rather than discrete droplets, reducing light scattering and fogging.
Results of the Testing
The testing revealed some promising results for the team. For one, they determined that the sapphire nanostructures had durability comparable to metals like tungsten and traditional glass. Specifically, the test revealed that the sapphire nanostructures have an indentation modulus and hardness of 182 GPa and 3.7 GPa, making it as durable as smooth ceramic or scratch-resistant metals.
Glare
The testing revealed strong anti-glare properties for the material. Specifically, the team utilized a layout of 330 nm and an aspect ratio of 2.1. They found that the nanostructured sapphire achieved a peak light transmission of 95.8% at 1360 nm and maintained a high transmission of 90.8% at 3000 nm, demonstrating its effectiveness across a broad spectrum.
Fog
The fog testing results showed how the nanostructures enhanced the dynamic wetting behavior of water droplets at low and high velocities. The team utilized a Phantom Miro C321 high-speed camera to monitor the droplets as they hit the surface and formed.
Dust
The dust test results were also impressive. The sapphire nanostructures were able to remain 98.7% dust-free using only gravity. This result means that future lenses will stay clearer without any additional cleaning.
Super Sapphire Benefits
There are lots of benefits that the super sapphire material brings to the table. For one, it offers the market a better way to create and customize this high-value material. The sapphire nanocrystals have been shown to be mechanically robust and customizable to meet a large range of applications.
Durability
The rugged durability offered by sapphire nanostructures is the main draw of the material. In the past, nanostructures have been considered fragile. The utility of sapphire in the creation of these tiny shapes solves that issue and creates a new level of durability.
Flexibly
Interestingly, the engineers touted the overall versatility and flexibility of the new material. The sapphire nanostructures can be tuned to be either superhydrophilic, absorbing water to prevent fogging, or superhydrophobic, repelling water droplets to achieve a self-cleaning effect. As such, it gives engineers the option to decide to eliminate fogging or create a water droplet rolling effect like that you see on a leaf.
Self-Cleaning Capabilities
One of the coolest aspects of sapphire nanostructures is how they can repel fog, dust, and glare without any additional materials or power needs. Impressively, the shape and arrangement of the nanostructures are what prevents particulate adhesion.
Super Sapphire Real-World Applications & Timeline
Screens are found in every industry, and there is no shortage of demand for clear, rugged, and affordable sapphire glass replacements. The super sapphire advancements could lead to more durable and clearer screens for smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices, as well as improved optical components in various industries.
According to the engineers, commercial applications may emerge within the next 3 to 5 years, depending on manufacturing scalability and industry adoption. Here are just a few applications for this technology moving forward.
Military Sector
There are many use case scenarios for sapphire nanostructures in the military. From making vehicle windshields more durable to creating more effective drone infrared sensors, the defence market is sure to see value in sapphirehire nanostructure developments. The anti-glare and scratch-resistant properties could improve optical components in military applications, including infrared sensors and protective windows. For example, rifle scopes, which notoriously give up the shooter due to glare, could see major upgrades in the future, thanks to this work.
Space Travel
There are a lot of reasons why astronauts in the future may rely on these nanostructures to stay safe, aside from the obvious of utilizing the material to make stronger windows. There are many benefits to its anti-dust capabilities that make it ideal for use in space travel. Remember, there’s no water in space; as such, using forces like gravity is the best option.
Consumer Electronics
If you ever drop your phone, you can attest to that moment when your heart sinks, hoping that your screen isn’t cracked. This worry could become a lot less prevalent in the future as sapphire nanostructure screens would provide durability on par with today’s screen protectors. The same material could provide more accurate and visible screens that eliminate glare.
Healthcare
There are many applications for durable screens in the healthcare sector. Medical devices are very expensive and are often very delicate. The integration of more durable components like sapphire nanostructured screens will help to provide more longevity for these valuable life-saving medical equipment.
Construction
The creation of next-generation windows that can stand up to the growing number of natural disasters like hurricanes is on the horizon. Utilizing sapphire nanostructures, windows and other structures will become far more durable.
Super Sapphire Researchers
The super sapphire study was conducted at the University of Texas at Austin. It was led by Kun-Chieh with support from Mehmet Kepenekci, Andrew Tunell, and Chih-Hao Chang. Now, the team seeks to scale up their operations to create more diverse samples that further improve durability and other key performance characteristics.
Companies Leading in Durable Screen Innovations
The screen material market is a competitive industry that combines the most advanced material sciences with technological breakthroughs. Today, there is a race towards creating the most durable and lightweight screen materials available. These screens will power humankind into the future. Here’s one company that secured a reputation as an innovator.
Corning Incorporated (GLW +1.2%) entered the market in 1851 as the Bay State Glass Company. It was founded by Amory Houghton to provide reliable and precision glass to the market. In 1989, the company changed its name to Corning Incorporated. Today, it’s a leading provider of glass technology.
Corning has been leading the glass innovation charge for a century. Interestingly, the company was the first to create the curved lightbulb design seen today around the world. The design originated as the encasement for Thomas Edison’s incandescent lamp in 1879 and still remains the industry standard this day.
Corning Incorporated (GLW +1.2%)
Corning also introduced major material breakthroughs like Pyrex, CorningWare, and Gorilla Glass. It offers a wide array of products today, including display tech, life sciences, optical communications lens, and specialty materials that power the global economy via cars, fiber optic cable, and smartphones.
Corning Incorporated is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and is considered a market leader in its sector. The company continues to invest heavily in innovations and R&D. As such, GLW is seen as a strong addition to any portfolio seeking exposure to the material science industry.
Latest on Corning Inc.
Super Sapphire – The Future Is Rugged
It’s hard to imagine glass that is as strong as steel, but it’s already here and in use. This latest development will help to decrease the size of this material considerably and open the door for new use case scenarios. For now, this team of innovative scientists deserves a handshake for their efforts.
Learn about other cool material science breakthroughs now.
Studies Referenced:
1. Chien, K.-C., Kepenekci, M., Tunell, A., & Chang, C.-H. (2025). Scratch-resistant sapphire nanostructures with anti-glare, anti-fogging, and anti-dust properties. Materials Horizons. The Royal Society of Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4mh01844c