Surface Nanobubbles Are Stabilized by Hydrophobic Attraction
Author(s)
Tan, Beng Hau
An, Hongjie
Ohl, Claus-Dieter
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2018
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The remarkably long lifetime of surface nanobubbles has perplexed researchers for two decades. The current understanding is that both contact line pinning and supersaturation of the ambient liquid are strictly required for the stability of nanobubbles, yet experiments show nanobubbles surviving in open systems and undersaturated environments. We find that this discrepancy can be addressed if the effects of an attractive hydrophobic potential at the solid substrate on the spatial distribution of the gas concentration is taken into account. We also show that, in our model, only substrate pinning is strictly required for ...
View more >The remarkably long lifetime of surface nanobubbles has perplexed researchers for two decades. The current understanding is that both contact line pinning and supersaturation of the ambient liquid are strictly required for the stability of nanobubbles, yet experiments show nanobubbles surviving in open systems and undersaturated environments. We find that this discrepancy can be addressed if the effects of an attractive hydrophobic potential at the solid substrate on the spatial distribution of the gas concentration is taken into account. We also show that, in our model, only substrate pinning is strictly required for stabilization; while hydrophobicity and supersaturation both aid stability, neither is mandatory—the absence of one can be compensated by an excess of the other.
View less >
View more >The remarkably long lifetime of surface nanobubbles has perplexed researchers for two decades. The current understanding is that both contact line pinning and supersaturation of the ambient liquid are strictly required for the stability of nanobubbles, yet experiments show nanobubbles surviving in open systems and undersaturated environments. We find that this discrepancy can be addressed if the effects of an attractive hydrophobic potential at the solid substrate on the spatial distribution of the gas concentration is taken into account. We also show that, in our model, only substrate pinning is strictly required for stabilization; while hydrophobicity and supersaturation both aid stability, neither is mandatory—the absence of one can be compensated by an excess of the other.
View less >
Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Volume
120
Issue
16
Subject
Mathematical sciences
Physical sciences
Engineering
Science & Technology
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Physics
INTERFACIAL NANOBUBBLES