We have evaluated the surface energy and characterized the wettability of cluster-assembled carbon films deposited on polyethylene, Si and Al substrates by a sessile-drop method using water and glycerol. The effective surface energy of nanostructured carbon is of the order of 30 mJ/m(2) as calculated using the Fowkes approach. The advancing contact angle (66-83degrees) is found to increase with surface roughness, i.e. the surface becomes more hydrophobic as the roughness increases. This behavior is ascribed to gas trapping in pores of the film with a self-affine surface. It is argued that the wettability of nanostructured carbon and other cluster-assembled coatings can be tuned simply by controlling the surface topography, through a suitable control of the deposition parameters, such as the cluster size distribution.
Titolo: | Influence of surface morphology on the wettability of cluster-assembled carbon films |
Autori: | PODESTA', ALESSANDRO (Secondo) MILANI, PAOLO (Penultimo) |
Data di pubblicazione: | 2003 |
Rivista: | |
Tipologia: | Article (author) |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | 10.1209/epl/i2003-00538-7 |
Appare nelle tipologie: | 01 - Articolo su periodico |