ZnO deposition on metal substrates: Relating fabrication, morphology, and wettability J. Appl. Phys. 113, 184905 (2013) ZnO films were grown by atomic layer deposition at 35 C on poly(methyl methacrylate) substrates using diethylzinc and water precursors. The film growth, morphology, and crystallinity were studied using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The uniform film growth was reached after several hundreds of deposition cycles, preceded by the precursor penetration into the porous bulk and island-type growth. After the full surface coverage, the ZnO films were stoichiometric, and consisted of large grains (diameter 30 nm) with a film surface roughness up to 6 nm (RMS). The introduction of Al 2 O 3 seed layer enhanced the initial ZnO growth substantially and changed the surface morphology as well as the crystallinity of the deposited ZnO films. Furthermore, the water contact angles of the ZnO films were measured, and upon ultraviolet illumination, the ZnO films on all the substrates became hydrophilic, independent of the film crystallinity.

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Rheological properties and boundary layer flow behavior of Micro Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) suspended in water was studied using a novel velocity profiling rheometric technique. The method is based on measuring stationary velocity profiles of fluid flow in a straight tube simultaneously by Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography (DOCT) and by Ultrasound Velocity Profiling (UVP). The high resolution DOCT provides velocity profiles near the transparent tube wall, while UVP yields corresponding information in the interior parts of the flow. The data from the two instruments is combined into a comprehensive velocity profile including both the thin boundary layer near the wall and the interior parts of the flow. Within the boundary layer, concentration and thereby the viscosity of MFC is found to decrease towards the wall. At high flow rate, sublayer of virtually pure water is observed next to the wall, giving rise to apparent wall slip. The results from interior part of the flow show shear thinning behavior in qualitative agreement with results from conventional rheological methods. The results indicate that the new method can provide detailed experimental information on the rheology of MFC suspensions and their intricate boundary layer flow behavior, avoiding uncertainties inherent in many conventional rheological techniques.

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Attenuation and delay of active tracers in tube transport is an important current problem, but its full explanation is still lacking. To this end a model is introduced, where part of a tracer undergoes condensation and evaporation, treated as a diffusion-type process, in addition to Taylor dispersion. Condensation of water was verified by high-speed imaging, and the model solution fitted the breakthrough curves of laboratory measurements with pulses of water vapor of varying relative humidity. The model provides a transfer function whose performance was verified against field measurements.