We present a hot tungsten cathode system to study the interactions between low-temperature plasma and thin metal layers sputtered onto both conductive and non-conductive substrates. This research aims to understand material selection for liquid metal divertor applications. Before interaction in the hot cathode system, we prepared three series of samples using high power impulse magnetron sputtering. Plasma parameters were measured using Langmuir probes in a DC discharge generated under identical experimental conditions. The morphology of samples after interaction in a hot tungsten cathode was studied using scanning electron microscopy.