Change in water contact angle of carbon contaminated TiO₂ Surfaces by High-energy Electron Beam

We studied change in water contact angle on TiO₂ surfaces upon high-energy electron-beam treatment. Depending on conditions of e-beam exposures, surface OH-content could be increased or decreased. In contrast, water contact angle continuously decreased with increasing e-beam exposure and energy, i.e. change in the water contact angle cannot be rationalized in terms of the overall change in the surfacestructure of carbon-contaminated TiO₂. In the C 1s spectra, we found that the C-O and C=O contents gradually increased with increasing e-beam energy, suggesting that the change in the surface structure of carbon layers can be important for understanding of the wettability change. Our results imply that the degree of oxidation of carbon impurity layers on oxide surfaces should be considered, in order to fully understand the change in the oxide surface wettability.