화학공학소재연구정보센터
Langmuir, Vol.21, No.16, 7358-7365, 2005
Nanometer-thick surficial films in oxides as a case of prewetting
Stable, nanometer-thick films are observed to form at the {1120} facets of Bi2O3-doped ZnO in several bulk-phase stability fields. Electron microscopy shows these surficial films to exhibit some degree of partial order in quenched samples. The equilibrium film thickness, corresponding to the Gibbs excess solute, decreases monotonically with decreasing temperature until vanishing at a dewetting temperature, well below the eutectic. Assuming that perfect wetting occurs at some higher temperature above the eutectic, as is observed on polycrystal surfaces and at grain boundaries in the same system, the adsorption and wetting events in this system illustrate temperature- and composition-dependent prewetting. The observation of a second class of thicker films coexisting with nanodroplets and a numerical evaluation of thickness versus temperature elucidate the critical role of volumetric thermodynamic terms in determining film stability and thickness. Analogous temperature-dependent surface films involving adsorbed MoO3 on Al2O3 were also observed.