Contents



Preface

Surface sciences elucidate the fundamental aspects of physics and chemistry at a wide range of surfaces/interfaces of arbitrary objects. Nowadays, one of the emerging edges of surface sciences lies in micro-nano surface/interface structures of low-dimensional materials (0D, 1D, 2D) and three-dimensional (3D) materials, which are attracting great interest owing to their breakthroughs in high-performance applications. Among them, silicon, CVD graphene, graphene oxide, transition metal dichalcogenides, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanoparticles, transparent conducting oxide, metal oxides, and so on emerge as representative materials for "the nano era of the twenty-first century" with intriguing characteristics in electronics and optoelectronics. On another edge of surface science, the wetting phenomenon is also a representative behavior that controls the equilibrium of the surface energy of a liquid deposited on a surface. The wettability of solid surfaces is raising considerable interest because of its novel applications in various fields, from microfluidics to chemistry. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the important achievements of surface science from the aspects of high-quality synthesis, surface modifications, smart coating based on nanoparticles, the wettability of various surfaces, and physics/chemistry characterizations, as well as theoretical

This book is divided into five sections. The first section describes the synthesis processes and characteristics of thin films, and the second section discusses the etching and lithography techniques of thin films such as graphene and silicon. The third section explains the wetting and permeability behavior of materials. This section introduces readers to the wetting phenomenon and describes different types of wetting. It explains the static and dynamic contact angles of liquid, discusses the effect of roughness on the contact angles, and evaluates the impact of roughness on surface wettability. In addition, this section introduces smart surfaces with tunable wettability via external stimuli or suitable coatings. It presents various techniques such as electric field, temperature, light, mechanical strain, pH, and so on for tuning surface wetting properties, which are extremely useful for various commercial applications. The fourth section describes the electrospinning surface engineering technique for the development of surfaces with different wettability and potential industrial applications for the different electrospun fibrous coatings. It reviews the electrospinning process and describes in detail the design of superhydrophobic surfaces obtained by electrospun fibers. Finally, the fifth section shows the fabrication of a scanning probe using multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) tips as one of the best candidates for imaging material

Chapter 1 introduces five basic stages of the film deposition process, including vapor adsorption, surface diffusion, the reaction of the adsorbed species with each other and the surface to form the bonds of the film material, nucleation, and microstructure formation. It also analyzes the influence of deposition process parameters on the three basic growth modes of films, focuses on the relationship between the control parameters of homoepitaxy and heteroepitaxy and the film structure, and

gives the dynamic characteristics of each growth stage.

growth kinetics of thin films.

surfaces such as silicon pillars.
