Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Rare-earth Oxide Coatings by Magnetron Sputtering Technique

Superhydrophobic coatings have drawn a lot of interest in both academia and industry because there are many practical uses, including anti-fingerprint, self-cleaning and anti-sticking applications. For example, the interest in self-cleaning surfaces is being driven by the desire to fabricate such surfaces for satellite dishes, solar energy panel, architectural glass and green houses. Conventionally, soft polymer-based materials are used for that coatings but they are relatively soft with low durability. Therefore, polymer-based superhydrophobic coatings are limited in practical use because of their weak sufficient mechanical and thermal stabilities. In this study, cerium oxide (CeO2-x) coatings are prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The ability to absorb and release oxygen plays a critical role in the overall performance of the CeO2-x coating. Therefore, the dependency of hydrophobicity of the coating on argon-oxygen environment will be reviewed. In addition, the relationship between surface properties and microstructure will be studied. The deposition parameters will be optimized to achieve a hydrophobic CeO2-x coating with high wear resistance, good adhesion to substrate, and high mechanical and thermodynamic stabilities. Finally, superhydrophobic CeO2-x coatings will be achieved with surface patterning. The surface geometrical parameters will be optimized to prepare CeO2-x coatings with highest hydrophobicity.