A novel and facile way to fabricate transparent superhydrophobic film on glass with self-cleaning and stability

Abstract Transparency is one of the most important properties of superhydrophobic (SHP) surface applied on outdoor solar cells and other outdoor windows. In this work, transparent SHP ZnO surface was fabricated via RF magnetron sputtering method. The effect of film thickness and surface roughness on the wettability and optical property of the as-prepared surfaces were investigated. Results show that the as-prepared SHP ZnO surface with sputtering time of 2 min exhibits excellent self-cleaning property and stability against corrosive rain, various environmental temperatures and impacting water droplet with high velocity. The fabrication process is stable and easy to control, which can largely widen the applications of the as-prepared transparent SHP surfaces.