Growth and roughness dependent wetting properties of CeO2 films prepared by glancing angle deposition

Robust hydrophobic materials based on ceramic are capable of withstanding harsh conditions such as erosion, abrasion and high temperature. The wetting performance of a ceramic film is strongly dependent on the surface morphology. In this work, we prepared a series of hydrophobic CeO2 films at different deposition time using glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique which can tailor the film morphology due to enhanced shadowing effect. Influences of deposition time on the morphology, roughness and wetting property of the films were investigated. Owing to the compositive effects of shadowing effect and mobility of depositing particles, islands on film surface grow in two different mechanisms during two growth stages. Discontinuous grains, loose columns and independent nanorods are generated and the corresponding roughness increases rapidly as deposition time exceeds 80 min. Wetting property tests show that the WCAs of the films are strongly dependent on the roughness of the films, and the rougher the surface is, the higher WCA we get.