Probing the hydrophilic behaviour of e-beam evaporated silica thin films for PV-soiling application
Mohammad Istiaque Hossain, G. Al Kubaisi, Brahim Aïssa, Said Mansour
Abstract
In this work, we report on the controlled change of the wetting behaviour of silica thin films deposited by a reactive e-beam evaporation. The as-deposited coated surfaces were treated with acetone solvent using an ultra-sonic bath followed by characterising their contact angles. As confirmed by a repeated contact angle measurement, the silica thin films changed their wetting behaviour from superhydrophilic to hydrophilic which we attributed to the creation of OH groups and hydroxylation process. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis suggested a SiO x stoichiometry of SiO 1.85 for the non-treated samples and SiO 1.91 for the solvent-treated ones. Such promising results pave the way to develop a cost-effective and efficient anti-soiling and self-cleaning coating for a large-scale application.