Controlling the Surface Morphology of ZnO Nano-Thin Film Using the Spin Coating Technique.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films are significant in various electronic applications. This study introduced an efficient, simple, low cost and timesaving method to obtain an extended and uniform ZnO thin film with tunable surface morphology over the substrate using the spin coating technique. Different concentrations of zinc acetate dehydrate were used as precursor solutions mixed with polyvinyl alcohol as a binding polymer to obtain the film's uniformity and to relieve thermal expansion that may cause a wrinkled surface.

New ZnO-Based Glass Ceramic Sensor for H₂ and NO₂ Detection.

In this study, a glass ceramic with a nominal composition 58ZnO:4Bi₂O₃:4WO₃:33.3B₂O₃ was synthesized by melt quenching technique. A gas sensor was then manufactured using a ZnO sol-gel phase as a permanent binder of the glass-ceramic to an alumina substrate having interdigitated electrodes.

Time-integrated monitoring of dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) in aquatic environments using the ceramic toximeter and the CALUX bioassay.

Ceramic passive samplers or toximeters (packed with active carbon 1%, w/w, on celite), in combination with the CALUX bioassay have been used as a time-integrated monitoring technique for dissolved dioxin-like PCBs in urban and industrial wastewaters. The technique showed to be reliable during laboratory experiments: (1) PCB-126 amounts extracted from the passive samplers increased linearly with the time of exposure and (2) PCB-126 concentrations calculated from the amounts accumulated by the passive samplers were in agreement with their concentrations in the testing solution. Afterwards the toximeters were applied in the field.