A substrate is coated with a hydrophilic layer(s) or coatings(s) that includes, for example, amorphous carbon in a form of diamond-like carbon (DLC). In certain embodiments, the DLC inclusive layer may be doped with at least one polar inducing dopant (e.g., Boron, Nitrogen, and/or any other suitable polar inducing dopant) in order to make the layer more polar and thus more hydrophilic so as to have a lower contact angle υ (e.g., no greater than about 10 degrees in certain embodiments, and more preferably no greater than about 8 degrees).