Hydrophobic diamond films

The peculiarities of wettability of diamond that was obtained in a nanostructured form as ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films by deposition from a gas phase are considered. Surface hydrogenation leads to hydrophobicity: advancing contact angle θ for UNCD films reaches 106 ± 1° (for diamond single crystals θ = 93°). Even higher values of θ equal to 124 ± 3° were detected for nanoporous samples of UNCD, in which a graphite-like component was removed by etching. High hydrophobicity is achieved owing to the specific surface morphology of the nanostructured diamond (anisotropic, with high content of nanopores) and chemical modification, which on the whole provides for very low values of free surface energy of the films. It was shown that laser-drilled microholes in polycrystalline diamond also can enhance the hydrophobicity. The wetting behavior of the nanostructured surfaces agrees well with the Cassie-Baxter equation for heterophase porous surfaces. The oxidation and hydrogenation of UNCD films allows controlling of θ in considerably wider ranges compared to single crystal diamond.