Surface bubble nucleation phase space

Abstract

Recent research has revealed several different techniques for nanoscopic gas nucleation on submerged surfaces, with findings seemingly in contradiction with each other. In response to this, we have systematically investigated the occurrence of surface nanobubbles on a hydrophobised silicon substrate for various different liquid temperatures and gas concentrations, which we controlled independently. We found that nanobubbles occupy a distinct region of this phase space, occurring for gas concentrations of approximately 100-110%. Below the nanobubble phase we did not detect any gaseous formations on the substrate, whereas micropancakes (micron wide, nanometer high gaseous domains) were found at higher temperatures and gas concentrations. We moreover find that supersaturation of dissolved gases is not a requirement for nucleation of bubbles.

4 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Dynamic equilibrium Mechanism for Surface Nanobubble Stabilization
• Superstability of Surface Nanobubbles

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Knudsen gas provides nanobubble stability
• Formation of surface nanobubbles and universality of their contact angles: A molecular dynamics approach
• Surface nanobubbles as a function of gas type
• Surface Nanobubbles: Theory, Simulation, and Experiment. A Review
• Wetting of nanopores probed with pressure
• Influence of ambient temperature on cavitation bubble dynamics
• Stabilization of nanobubbles under hydrophobic confinement
• Pre-dewetting transition on a hydrophobic wall: Statics and dynamics