The effect of relative humidity on binary gas diffusion.

The dependence of diffusion coefficient of O2-N2 mixture in the presence of water vapor was experimentally determined as a function of relative humidity (RH) with different temperatures using an in-house made Loschmidt diffusion cell. The experimental results showed that O2-N2 diffusion coefficient increased more than 17% when RH increased from 0% to 80% at 79 degrees C. In the experiments, the RH in both top and bottom chambers of the diffusion cell were the same, and the pressure inside the diffusion cell was kept as ambient pressure (1 atm.

Probe beam size effect on the measurement of the distance between the probe beam and the sample in photothermal deflection.

A distance-scan method to determine the distance between the probe beam and sample, which is not easily measured exactly, in photothermal deflection (PD) was reported, with which the distance and thermal diffusivity of the deflecting medium can be simultaneously measured. Probe beam size effect (PBSE) on PD phase signal was quantitatively analyzed to clearly show its physical meaning. The measured distance was experimentally verified as correct and reliable, and the measured thermal diffusivities of N2 and CO2 are in good agreement with the literature values.