Wettability of zinc oxide nanorod surfaces

In this work, we have studied the wettability of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) by highlighting the effect of polar and non-polar ZnO facets on contact angle (CA) results. The variation in the wettability behaviors of the synthesized surfaces is mainly related to physical and chemical surface texturing which influenced the liquid drop penetration. Indeed, three main penetration states can be deduced: total, partial, and null-penetration. Where, low CA (100.9°) with high contact angle hysteresis (CAH) (13°) is observed for total penetration of the liquid drop. While, high CA (139.6°) with low CAH (7°) is observed for null-penetration. Moreover, we have found that the chemical texturing of ZnO, especially the hydrophilicity of ZnO tips, responsible for liquid drop sticking, prevents the liquid slipping over the surface. In order to promote the liquid rolling on the ZnO surface, we reported the physical modification of the ZnO structures. Therefore, the rolling of the liquid drop on the inclined surface of ZnO is achieved by using a new structure based on double scale roughness. This surface exhibits superhydrophobic behavior with a CA of 153° and CAH of 3°.