The wettability efficiency of TiO2-coated Ti substrate wafers was improved using a microwave/UV pre-treatment method. With the assistance of microwave heating, TiO2 substrates coating with P25 completely achieved super hydrophilic state within 5 min, which is twice as fast compared with only UV irradiation condition. Moreover, when the microwave power was increased, improvement in the wettability activity was observed. Apart from P25, coating with brookite also resulted in a good performance. The contact angle was 0° with only 10 min of irradiation.
Keywords: TiO2; electromagnetic wave effect; microwave; super hydrophilic; wettability.