Surface Nanobubbles Nucleate Microdroplets

Xuehua Zhang, Henri Lhuissier, Chao Sun, and Detlef Lohse
Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 144503 – Published 10 April 2014
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Abstract

When a hydrophobic solid is in contact with water, surface nanobubbles often form at the interface. They have a lifetime many orders of magnitude longer than expected. Here, we show that they even withstand a temperature increase to temperatures close to the boiling point of bulk water; i.e., they do not nucleate larger bubbles (“superstability”). On the contrary, when the vapor-liquid contact line passes a nanobubble, a liquid film remains around it, which, after pinch-off, results in a microdroplet in which the nanobubbles continue to exist. Finally, the microdroplet evaporates and the nanobubble consequently bursts. Our results support that pinning plays a crucial role for nanobubble stability.

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  • Received 30 September 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.144503

© 2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Xuehua Zhang1,2,*, Henri Lhuissier2, Chao Sun2, and Detlef Lohse2,†

  • 1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
  • 2Physics of Fluids Group, Department of Applied Physics, and J. M. Burgers Centre for Fluid Dynamics, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

  • *xuehuaz@unimelb.edu.au
  • d.lohse@utwente.nl

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Vol. 112, Iss. 14 — 11 April 2014

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