Transparent superhydrophobic ZnO thin films were fabricated on glass substrates by a liquid phase deposition (LPD) method and a surface modification scheme using fluoroalkyltrimethoxysilane (FAS). The hexagonal ZnO rods were perpendicularly grown on glass substrates coated with ZnO seed layers. The diameters of the hexagonal ZnO rods and the thickness of thin films were increased according to the immersion time into an aqueous solution. The structure, surface roughness, transmittance and contact angle of prepared ZnO thin films were measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), an atomic force microscope (AFM), a UV-visible spectrophotometer (UV-Nis) and contact angle measurements. The XRD pattern of ZnO thin films showed diffraction peaks corresponding to the hexagonal wurtzite-type ZnO structure with an intense XRD peak from the (002) plane. Among the ZnO thin films prepared with different immersion conditions, the ZnO thin film prepared with an immersion time of 10 minutes showed a high transparency above 89% and a superhydrophobic surface property with a water contact angle of approximately 161 degrees after a FAS treatment.

Keywords: ZnO thin film; superhydrophobicity; contact angle; transmittance; FAS