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Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface

Experimental investigations of hydrophobic/water interfaces often return controversial results, possibly due to the unknown role of gas accumulation at the interfaces. Here, during advanced atomic force microscopy of the initial evolution of gas-containing structures at a highly ordered pyrolytic gr...

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Autores principales: Fang, Chung-Kai, Ko, Hsien-Chen, Yang, Chih-Wen, Lu, Yi-Hsien, Hwang, Ing-Shouh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4835695/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27090291
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep24651
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author Fang, Chung-Kai
Ko, Hsien-Chen
Yang, Chih-Wen
Lu, Yi-Hsien
Hwang, Ing-Shouh
author_facet Fang, Chung-Kai
Ko, Hsien-Chen
Yang, Chih-Wen
Lu, Yi-Hsien
Hwang, Ing-Shouh
author_sort Fang, Chung-Kai
collection PubMed
description Experimental investigations of hydrophobic/water interfaces often return controversial results, possibly due to the unknown role of gas accumulation at the interfaces. Here, during advanced atomic force microscopy of the initial evolution of gas-containing structures at a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite/water interface, a fluid phase first appeared as a circular wetting layer ~0.3 nm in thickness and was later transformed into a cap-shaped nanostructure (an interfacial nanobubble). Two-dimensional ordered domains were nucleated and grew over time outside or at the perimeter of the fluid regions, eventually confining growth of the fluid regions to the vertical direction. We determined that interfacial nanobubbles and fluid layers have very similar mechanical properties, suggesting low interfacial tension with water and a liquid-like nature, explaining their high stability and their roles in boundary slip and bubble nucleation. These ordered domains may be the interfacial hydrophilic gas hydrates and/or the long-sought chemical surface heterogeneities responsible for contact line pinning and contact angle hysteresis. The gradual nucleation and growth of hydrophilic ordered domains renders the original homogeneous hydrophobic/water interface more heterogeneous over time, which would have great consequence for interfacial properties that affect diverse phenomena, including interactions in water, chemical reactions, and the self-assembly and function of biological molecules.
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spelling pubmed-48356952016-04-27 Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface Fang, Chung-Kai Ko, Hsien-Chen Yang, Chih-Wen Lu, Yi-Hsien Hwang, Ing-Shouh Sci Rep Article Experimental investigations of hydrophobic/water interfaces often return controversial results, possibly due to the unknown role of gas accumulation at the interfaces. Here, during advanced atomic force microscopy of the initial evolution of gas-containing structures at a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite/water interface, a fluid phase first appeared as a circular wetting layer ~0.3 nm in thickness and was later transformed into a cap-shaped nanostructure (an interfacial nanobubble). Two-dimensional ordered domains were nucleated and grew over time outside or at the perimeter of the fluid regions, eventually confining growth of the fluid regions to the vertical direction. We determined that interfacial nanobubbles and fluid layers have very similar mechanical properties, suggesting low interfacial tension with water and a liquid-like nature, explaining their high stability and their roles in boundary slip and bubble nucleation. These ordered domains may be the interfacial hydrophilic gas hydrates and/or the long-sought chemical surface heterogeneities responsible for contact line pinning and contact angle hysteresis. The gradual nucleation and growth of hydrophilic ordered domains renders the original homogeneous hydrophobic/water interface more heterogeneous over time, which would have great consequence for interfacial properties that affect diverse phenomena, including interactions in water, chemical reactions, and the self-assembly and function of biological molecules. Nature Publishing Group 2016-04-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4835695/ /pubmed/27090291 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep24651 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Fang, Chung-Kai
Ko, Hsien-Chen
Yang, Chih-Wen
Lu, Yi-Hsien
Hwang, Ing-Shouh
Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface
title Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface
title_full Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface
title_fullStr Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface
title_full_unstemmed Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface
title_short Nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface
title_sort nucleation processes of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4835695/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27090291
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep24651
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