Nanoparticulated hydrophobic CdO coatings deposited by microwave procedure
A novel and inexpensive way to deposit nanostructured cadmium oxide (CdO) coatings is described. Metallic Cd is evaporated by heating a silicon carbide crucible, via microwave radiation at standard atmosphere conditions. The Cd vapour rises from the crucible and reacts with the atmospheric oxygen depositing on a glass substrate. CdO coating is homogeneously distributed above the glass surface and it presents a well-defined cubic-shaped nanostructure. The as-deposited CdO coatings showed good hydrophobic properties and achieved symmetric contact angles of 112°. The hydrophobic behaviour was lost after a 75 min of heat treatment at 723 K.