On the wetting behavior of ceria thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Polymers are most widely used in the production of water-repellant coatings. However, their use in applications requiring wear resistance or high-temperature stability is extremely limited. A recent report suggests that wear resistant, thermally stable rare earth oxide materials like cerium dioxide (ceria) are intrinsically water repellant. We have studied this intriguing finding for ceria thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at different oxygen pressures and different substrate temperatures. We used a custom apparatus for measuring water contact angles on ceria films deposited by PLD. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the relationship between the ceria wetting behavior and ceria surface chemistry. Our results show that ceria thin films are intrinsically hydrophilic and that hydrophobicity arises due to adsorption of hydrocarbon species after ∼24 h.