Closer look at the effect of AFM imaging conditions on the apparent dimensions of surface nanobubbles

Toward a Comprehensive Understanding of the Anomalously Small Contact Angle of Surface Nanobubbles

Experimental studies have demonstrated that the gas phase contact angle (CA) of a surface nanobubble (SNB) is much smaller than that of a macroscopic gas bubble. This reduced CA plays a crucial role in prolonging the lifetime of SNBs by lowering the bubble pressure and preventing gas molecules from dissolving in the surrounding liquids. Despite extensive efforts to explain the anomalously small CA, a consensus about the underlying reasons is yet to be reached. In this study, we conducted experimental investigations to explore the influence of gas molecules adsorbed at the solid-liquid interface on the CA of SNBs created through the solvent exchange (SE) method and temperature difference (TD). Interestingly, no significant change is observed in the CA of SNBs on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces. Even for nanobubbles on micro/nano pancakes, the CA only exhibited a slight reduction compared to SNBs on bare HOPG surfaces. These findings suggest that gas adsorption at the immersed solid surface may not be the primary factor contributing to the small CA of the SNBs. Furthermore, the CA of SNBs formed on polystyrene (PS) and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) substrates was also investigated, and a considerable increase in CA was observed. In addition, the effects of other factors including impurity, electric double layer (EDL) line tension, and pinning force upon the CA of SNBs were discussed, and a comprehensive model about multiple factors affecting the CA of SNBs was proposed, which is helpful for understanding the abnormally small CA and the stability of SNBs.

Recent advances for understanding the role of nanobubbles in particles flotation

Traditional froth flotation is the primary method for the separation and upgrading of fine mineral particles. However, it is still difficult for micro-fine and low-quality minerals to effectively separate. It is generally believed that bubble miniaturization is of great significance to improve flotation efficiency. Due to their unique physical and chemical properties, the application of nanobubbles (NBs) in ore flotation and other fields has been widely investigated as an important means to solve the problems of fine particle separation. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of the effect of NBs on flotation is a prerequisite to adapt it for the treatment of fine and low-quality minerals for separation. In this paper, recent advances in the field of nanobubble (NB) formation, preparation and stability are reviewed. In particular, we highlight the latest progress in the role of NBs on particles flotation and focus in particular on the particle-particle and particle-bubble interaction. A discussion of the current knowledge gap and future directions is provided.

Study of Interactions between Interfacial Nanobubbles and Probes of Different Hydrophobicities

In this study, hydrophilic, medium hydrophobic, and strong hydrophobic probes are obtained via treatment with plasma and octadecyl trichlorosilane. The interaction between the probes and interfacial nanobubbles (INBs) is examined using atomic force microscopy. The results show that a hydrophilic probe can scan the true shape of the INBs, and the distance between the first inflection point and the zero point of the approach force curve is equal to the vertical height of the nanobubble. The medium hydrophobic probe caused severe deformation of INB morphologies in the horizontal direction during scanning; nevertheless, the complete shape of the INB is obtained using this probe by lowering the scanning parameters. However, the characteristic of the approach force curve proves that the size of the nanobubbles is underestimated. The strong hydrophobic probe deforms INB morphologies severely, whose size cannot be obtained. The maximum attractive force in the approach force curve and the adhesive force in the retract force curve obtained using the strong hydrophobic probe are approximately 6 and 12 nN, respectively, which are both higher than those of the hydrophilic and medium hydrophobic probes. It is reasoned that the liquid film is maintained between the hydrophilic probe and the INBs, the medium hydrophobic probe pierces the INBs slightly, while the strong hydrophobic probe punctures the liquid film and demonstrates a pinning effect.

Multimodal microscopy-based identification of surface nanobubbles

HYPOTHESIS

Surface nanobubbles, which were controversially discussed in the literature, promise a number of outstanding applications, and their presence may hamper nanoscale processes at solid-aqueous interfaces. A most crucial and yet unsolved question is the rapid and conclusive identification of gas-filled (surface) nanobubbles. We hypothesize that surface nanobubbles and oil nanodroplets can be conclusively differentiated in co-localization experiments with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and time-resolved fluorescence microscopy by localizing tracer fluorophores and analyzing their fluorescence lifetimes.

EXPERIMENTS

Combined AFM and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) were conducted to localize the various interfaces labelled by the reporter dye rhodamine 6G (Rh6G). The dependence of the fluorescence lifetime of Rh6G on its local environment was determined for air/water, water/glass and polysiloxane/water interfaces under different conditions.

FINDINGS

In in situ co-localization experiments, surface nanobubbles labeled with Rh6G were probed by AFM with high spatial resolution and were differentiated from polysiloxane droplets as well as contamination originating from lubricant-coated syringe needles owing to the characteristic short fluorescence lifetime of Rh6G at the gas/water interface observed in FLIM. In particular, this approach lends itself to conclusively identify and rapidly differentiate these gas-filled entities from adsorbed contamination, such as siloxane-based oil nanodroplets.

Cationic-Surfactant-Coated Mica Surfaces below the Critical Micellar Concentration: 1. Patchy Structures As Revealed by Peak Force Tapping AFM Mode

The morphology and structure of the self-assembled surfactant aggregates at the solid-liquid interface remain controversial. For the well-studied system of cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (C₁₆TAB) adsorbed onto the opposite negatively charged, atomically smooth mica surface, a variety of surface aggregates have been previously reported: AFM imaging pointing to cylinders and surface micelles as opposed to mono/bilayer-like structures revealed by neutron and X-ray reflectometry, NMR, spectroscopic techniques, and numerical simulations. To reconcile with the latter results, we revisit the morphometry of the C₁₆TAB-coated mica surfaces using the recent peak force tapping (PFT-AFM) mode that allows fragile structures to be imaged with the lowest possible applied force. The evolution of the structural organization at the mica-water interface is investigated above the Krafft boundary over a wide concentration range (from 1/1000 to 2 cmc) after long equilibration times to ensure thermodynamic equilibrium. A complex but fairly complete picture has emerged: At very low concentrations, the C₁₆TAB surfactants adsorb as isolated molecules before forming small clusters. Above 1/140 cmc, monolayer-like stripes are formed. As the concentration is increased, a connected network of these patches progressively covers the mica substrate. Above 1/80 cmc, bilayer-like patches build on top of the underlying monolayer, and ultimately a complete bilayer (at about half the cmc) covers the entire mica substrate. Thanks to the less invasive PFT-AFM imaging mode, our observations not only agree with the theoretical predictions and numerical simulations but also reconcile, at last, the direct observations by means of the AFM imaging technique with the results obtained with other techniques.

Properties of Blisters Formed on Polymer Films and Differentiating them from Nanobubbles/Nanodrops

When studying surface nanobubbles on film-coated substrates, a class of bubble-like domains called blisters are probably forming at the solid-liquid interface together with nanobubbles. This may easily lead to a misunderstanding of the characteristics and applications of surface nanobubbles and thus continue to cause problems within the nanobubble community. Therefore, how to distinguish surface nanobubbles from blisters is a problem. Herein, the morphology and properties of blisters are investigated on both smooth and nanopitted polystyrene (PS) films in degassed water. The morphology and contact angle of blisters are similar to those of surface nanobubbles. However, blisters were observed to be punctured under the tip-blister interaction and be torn broken by an atomic force microscope tip during the process of scanning. At the same time, nanopits on the surface of blisters that formed on a pitted PS film can be seen clearly. These provide direct and visual evidence for distinguishing blisters from surface nanobubbles. In addition, surface nanobubbles and blisters on smooth and pitted PS films in air-equilibrated water are studied. No punctured surface nanobubble was observed, and the force curves obtained on surface nanobubbles and the change in height of blisters and surface nanobubbles under a large scanning force show that surface nanobubbles are much softer than blisters.

Long-Term Stability of Surface Nanobubbles in Undersaturated Aqueous Solution

Surface nanobubbles should not be stable for more than a few milliseconds; however they have been shown to persist for days. Pinning of the three-phase contact line of surface nanobubbles has been proposed to explain the discrepancy between the theoretical and experimental results. According to this model, two factors stabilize surface nanobubbles, namely solution oversaturation and surface pinning. Hereby, we investigate experimentally the impact of the solution saturation on the stability of nanobubbles. For this purpose, surface nanobubbles have been nucleated on hydrophobic surfaces by two methods, and then characterized by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Thereafter, the surrounding liquid has been exchanged multiple times with partially degassed water. Two degassing techniques are presented. Both sets of experiments lead to the conclusion that surface nanobubbles are stable in undersaturated conditions for hours. We compare the measured lifetime of nanobubbles to calculations for pinned nanobubbles in undersaturated conditions. The stability of surface nanobubbles in undersaturated solutions observed here is incommensurate with the pinning mechanism as the origin of the long-term stability of surface nanobubbles.

Surface Nanobubbles Nucleate Liquid Boiling

Surface nanobubbles have been presumed to lead to the experimental observation that liquid boiling often occurs at a much lower supersaturation than expected, yet no qualitative theory exists to explain how they participate in the process. Here, we report through a simple theoretical analysis on how the metastable nanobubbles nucleate the liquid-to-vapor transition by serving as an intermediate phase. The appearance of metastable nanobubbles inhibits the shrink of the bubble nucleus and changes bubble nucleation into a multistep process. We show three possible mechanisms for heterogeneous nucleation starting from metastable surface nanobubbles: nucleation from pinned nanobubbles, nucleation via nanobubble depinning, and nucleation through nanobubble coalescence, each predicting a significant reduction in a nucleation barrier. The occurrence of a specific nucleation pathway of bubble nucleation depends on the detailed geometry of local substrate roughness. These results give insight into how the appearance of surface nanobubbles changes the nucleation mechanisms of liquid boiling.

Deformation of Surface Nanobubbles Induced by Substrate Hydrophobicity

Recent experimental measurements have shown that there exists a population of nanobubbles with different curvature radii, whereas both computer simulations and theoretical analysis indicated that the curvature radii of different nanobubbles should be the same at a given supersaturation. To resolve such inconsistency, we perform molecular dynamics simulations on surface nanobubbles that are stabilized by heterogeneous substrates either in the geometrical heterogeneity model (GHM) or in the chemical heterogeneity model (CHM) and propose that the inconsistency could be ascribed to the substrate-induced nanobubble deformation. We find that, as expected from theory and computer simulation, for either the GHM or the CHM, there exists a universal upper limit of contact angle for the nanobubbles, which is determined by the degree of supersaturation alone. By analyzing the evolution of the shape of nanobubbles as a function of substrate hydrophobicity that is controlled here by the liquid-solid interaction, two different origins of nanobubble deformation are identified. For substrates in the GHM, where the contact line is pinned by surface roughness, variation in the liquid-solid interaction changes only the location of the contact line and the measured contact angle, without causing a change in the nanobubble curvature. For substrates in the CHM, however, the liquid-solid interaction exerted by the bottom substrate can deform the vapor-liquid interface, resulting in variations in both the curvature of the vapor-liquid interface and the contact angle.

A History of Nanobubbles

We follow the history of nanobubbles from the earliest experiments pointing to their existence to recent years. We cover the effect of Laplace pressure on the thermodynamic stability of nanobubbles and why this implies that nanobubbles are thermodynamically never stable. Therefore, understanding bubble stability becomes a consideration of the rate of bubble dissolution, so the dominant approach to understanding this is discussed. Bulk nanobubbles (or fine bubbles) are treated separately from surface nanobubbles as this reflects their separate histories. For each class of nanobubbles, we look at the early evidence for their existence, methods for the production and characterization of nanobubbles, evidence that they are indeed gaseous, or otherwise, and theories for their stability. We also look at applications of both surface and bulk nanobubbles.

Hidden Nanobubbles in Undersaturated Liquids

Here, we propose theoretically the existence of a new type of nanobubble in undersaturated liquids. These nanobubbles have a concave vapor-liquid interface featured with a negative curvature rather than a positive curvature for nanobubbles in supersaturated liquids, so that they often hide inside of the substrate textures and it might not be easy to characterize them through atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. However, these hidden nanobubbles are still stabilized by the contact line pinning effect and stay at the thermodynamically metastable state. We further demonstrate that similar to the nanobubbles in supersaturated liquids the contact angle of the hidden nanobubbles is more sensitive to the nanobubble size rather than the substrate chemistry, and their curvature radius is dependent on the chemical potential but independent of the base radius. Finally, we show several potential situations for the appearance of the hidden nanobubbles.

Optimized Model Surfaces for Advanced Atomic Force Microscopy Studies of Surface Nanobubbles

The formation of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of binary mixtures of 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (MHDA) and 1-octadecanethiol (ODT) on ultraflat template-stripped gold (TSG) surfaces was systematically investigated to clarify the assembly behavior, composition, and degree of possible phase segregation in light of atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies of surface nanobubbles on these substrates. The data for SAMs on TSG were compared to those obtained by adsorption on rough evaporated gold, as reported in a previous study. Quartz crystal microbalance and surface plasmon resonance data acquired in situ on TSG indicate that similar to SAM formation on conventional evaporated gold substrates ODT and MHDA form monolayers and bilayers, respectively. The second layer on MHDA, whose formation is attributed to hydrogen bonding, can be easily removed by adequate rinsing with water. The favorable agreement of the grazing incidence reflection Fourier transform infrared (GIR FTIR) spectroscopy and contact angle data analyzed with the Israelachvili-Gee model suggests that the binary SAMs do not segregate laterally. This conclusion is fully validated by high-resolution friction force AFM observations down to a length scale of 8-10 nm, which is much smaller than the typical observed surface nanobubble radii. Finally, correspondingly functionalized TSG substrates are shown to be valuable supports for studying surface nanobubbles by AFM in water and for addressing the relation between surface functionality and nanobubble formation and properties.

Surface Nanobubbles Studied by Time-Resolved Fluorescence Microscopy Methods Combined with AFM: The Impact of Surface Treatment on Nanobubble Nucleation

The impact of surface treatment and modification on surface nanobubble nucleation in water has been addressed by a new combination of fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In this study, rhodamine 6G (Rh6G)-labeled surface nanobubbles nucleated by the ethanol-water exchange were studied on differently cleaned borosilicate glass, silanized glass as well as self-assembled monolayers on transparent gold by combined AFM-FLIM. While the AFM data confirmed earlier reports on surface nanobubble nucleation, size, and apparent contact angles in dependence of the underlying substrate, the colocalization of these elevated features with highly fluorescent features observed in confocal intensity images added new information. By analyzing the characteristic contributions to the excited state lifetime of Rh6G in decay curves obtained from time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) experiments, the characteristic short-lived (<600 ps) component of could be associated with an emission at the gas-water interface. Its colocalization with nanobubble-like features in the AFM height images provides evidence for the observation of gas-filled surface nanobubbles. While piranha-cleaned glass supported nanobubbles, milder UV-ozone or oxygen plasma treatment afforded glass-water interfaces, where no nanobubbles were observed by combined AFM-FLIM. Finally, the number density of nanobubbles scaled inversely with increasing surface hydrophobicity.

AFM Study of Surface Nanobubbles on Binary Self-Assembled Monolayers on Ultraflat Gold with Identical Macroscopic Static Water Contact Angles and Different Terminal Functional Groups

All experimental findings related to surface nanobubbles, such as their pronounced stability and the striking differences of macroscopic and apparent nanoscopic contact angles, need to be addressed in any theory or model of surface nanobubbles. In this work we critically test a recent explanation of surface nanobubble stability and their consequences and contrast this with previously proposed models. In particular, we elucidated the effect of surface chemical composition of well-controlled solid-aqueous interfaces of identical roughness and defect density on the apparent nanoscopic contact angles. Expanding on a previous atomic force microscopy (AFM) study on the systematic variation of the macroscopic wettability using binary self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on ultraflat template stripped gold (TSG), we assessed here the effect of different surface chemical composition for macroscopically identical static water contact angles. SAMs on TSG with a constant macroscopic water contact angle of 81 ± 2° were obtained by coadsorption of a methyl-terminated thiol and a second thiol with different terminal functional groups, including hydroxy, amino, and carboxylic acid groups. In addition, surface nanobubbles formed by entrainment of air on SAMs of a bromoisobutyrate-terminated thiol were analyzed by AFM. Despite the widely differing surface potentials and different functionality, such as hydrogen bond acceptor or donor, and different dipole moments and polarizability, the nanoscopic contact angles (measured through the condensed phase and corrected for AFM tip broadening effects) were found to be 145 ± 10° for all surfaces. Hence, different chemical functionalities at identical macroscopic static water contact angle do not noticeably influence the apparent nanoscopic contact angle of surface nanobubbles. This universal contact angle is in agreement with recent models that rely on contact line pinning and the equilibrium of gas outflux due to the Laplace pressure and gas influx due to gas oversaturation in the aqueous medium.

Modeling the Interaction between AFM Tips and Pinned Surface Nanobubbles

Although the morphology of surface nanobubbles has been studied widely with different AFM modes, AFM images may not reflect the real shapes of the nanobubbles due to AFM tip-nanobubble interactions. In addition, the interplay between surface nanobubble deformation and induced capillary force has not been well understood in this context. In our work we used constraint lattice density functional theory to investigate the interaction between AFM tips and pinned surface nanobubbles systematically, especially concentrating on the effects of tip hydrophilicity and shape. For a hydrophilic tip contacting a nanobubble, its hydrophilic nature facilitates its departure from the bubble surface, displaying a weak and intermediate-range attraction. However, when the tip squeezes the nanobubble during the approach process, the nanobubble shows an elastic effect that prevents the tip from penetrating the bubble, leading to a strong nanobubble deformation and repulsive interactions. On the contrary, a hydrophobic tip can easily pierce the vapor-liquid interface of the nanobubble during the approach process, leading to the disappearance of the repulsive force. In the retraction process, however, the adhesion between the tip and the nanobubble leads to a much stronger lengthening effect on nanobubble deformation and a strong long-range attractive force. The trends of force evolution from our simulations agree qualitatively well with recent experimental AFM observations. This favorable agreement demonstrates that our model catches the main intergradient of tip-nanobubble interactions for pinned surface nanobubbles and may therefore provide important insight into how to design minimally invasive AFM experiments.

Stiffness and evolution of interfacial micropancakes revealed by AFM quantitative nanomechanical imaging

Micropancakes are quasi-two-dimensional micron-sized domains on crystalline substrates (e.g. highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG)) immersed in water. They are only a few nanometers thick, and are suspected to come from the accumulation of dissolved air at the solid-water interface. However, the exact chemical nature and basic physical properties of micropancakes have been under debate ever since their first observation, primarily due to the lack of a suitable characterization technique. In this study, the stiffness of micropancakes at the interface between HOPG and ethanol-water solutions was investigated by using PeakForce Quantitative NanoMechanics (PF-QNM) mode Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Our measurements showed that micropancakes were stiffer than nanobubbles, and for bilayer micropancakes, the bottom layer in contact with the substrate was stiffer than the top one. Interestingly, the micropancakes became smaller and softer with an increase in the ethanol concentration in the solution, and were undetectable by AFM above a critical concentration of ethanol. But they re-appeared after the ethanol concentration in the solution was reduced. Clearly the evolution and stiffness of the micropancakes were dependent on the chemical composition in the solution, which could be attributed to the correlation of the mechanical properties of the micropancakes with the surface tension of the liquid phase. Based on the "go-and-come" behaviors of micropancakes with the ethanol concentration, we found that the micropancakes could actually tolerate the ethanol concentration much higher than 5%, a value reported in the literature. The results from this work may be helpful in alluding the chemical nature of micropancakes.

Wetting of nanophases: Nanobubbles, nanodroplets and micropancakes on hydrophobic surfaces

The observation by Atomic Force Microscopy of a range of nanophases on hydrophobic surfaces poses some challenging questions, not only related to the stability of these objects but also regarding their wetting properties. Spherical capped nanobubbles are observed to exhibit contact angles that far exceed the macroscopic contact angle measured for the same materials, whereas nanodroplets exhibit contact angles that are much the same as the macroscopic contact angle. Micropancakes are reported to consist of gas, in which case their wetting properties are mysterious. They should only be stable when the van der Waals forces act to thicken the film whereas for a gas, the van der Waals forces will always act to thin the film. Here we examine the available evidence and contribute some additional experiments in order to review our understanding of the wetting properties of these nanophases. We demonstrate that if in fact micropancakes consist of a contaminant their wetting properties can be explained, though the very high contact angles of nanobubbles remain unexplained.

Surface Nanobubbles in Nonaqueous Media: Looking for Nanobubbles in DMSO, Formamide, Propylene Carbonate, Ethylammonium Nitrate, and Propylammonium Nitrate

Surface nanobubbles produced by supersaturation during the exchange of ethanol for water are routinely observed on hydrophobic surfaces, are stable for days, and have contact angles that are very much greater than observed macroscopically. Here, we test the hypothesis that nanobubbles can also be observed in nonaqueous solvents in order to ascertain if their anomalous lifetimes and contact angles are related to properties of the solvent. Nanobubbles were seen in the protic solvents formamide, ethylammonium nitrate, and propylammonium nitrate, but not in propylene carbonate or dimethyl sulfoxide. Solvents in which nanobubbles were observed exhibit a three-dimensional hydrogen-bonding network. Like in aqueous systems, the nanobubbles were stable for days and exhibited high contact angles (∼165°).

Metastable nanobubbles at the solid-liquid interface due to contact angle hysteresis

Nanobubbles exist at solid-liquid interfaces between pure water and hydrophobic surfaces with very high stability, lasting in certain cases up to several days. Not only semispherical but also other shapes, such as micropancakes, are known to exist at such interfaces. However, doubt has been raised as to whether or not the nanobubbles are gas-phase entities. In this study, surface nanobubbles at a pure water-highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) interface were investigated by peak force quantitative nanomechanics (PF-QNM). Multiple isolated nanobubbles generated by the solvent-exchange method were present on the terraced areas, avoiding the steps of the HOPG surface. Adjacent nanobubbles coalesced and formed metastable nanobubbles. Coalescence was enhanced by the PF-QNM measurement. We determined that nanobubbles can exist for a long time because of nanoscale contact angle hysteresis at the water-HOPG interface. Moreover, the hydrophilic steps of HOPG were avoided during coalescence, providing evidence that the nanobubbles are truly gas phase.

Measuring forces and spatiotemporal evolution of thin water films between an air bubble and solid surfaces of different hydrophobicity

A combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and reflection interference contrast microscopy (RICM) was used to measure simultaneously the interaction force and the spatiotemporal evolution of the thin water film between a bubble in water and mica surfaces with varying degrees of hydrophobicity. Stable films, supported by the repulsive van der Waals-Casimir-Lifshitz force were always observed between air bubble and hydrophilic mica surfaces (water contact angle, θ(w) < 5°) whereas bubble attachment occurred on hydrophobized mica surfaces. A theoretical model, based on the Reynolds lubrication theory and the augmented Young-Laplace equation including the effects of disjoining pressure, provided excellent agreement with experiment results, indicating the essential physics involved in the interaction between air bubble and solid surfaces can be elucidated. A hydrophobic interaction free energy per unit area of the form: WH(h) = -γ(1 - cos θ(w))exp(-h/D(H)) can be used to quantify the attraction between bubble and hydrophobized solid substrate at separation, h, with γ being the surface tension of water. For surfaces with water contact angle in the range 45° < θ(w) < 90°, the decay length DH varied between 0.8 and 1.0 nm. This study quantified the hydrophobic interaction in asymmetric system between air bubble and hydrophobic surfaces, and provided a feasible method for synchronous measurements of the interaction forces with sub-nN resolution and the drainage dynamics of thin films down to nm thickness.

Dimensions and the profile of surface nanobubbles: tip-nanobubble interactions and nanobubble deformation in atomic force microscopy

The interactions between argon surface nanobubbles and AFM tips on HOPG (highly oriented pyrolitic graphite) in water and the concomitant nanobubble deformation were analyzed as a function of position on the nanobubbles in a combined tapping mode and force-volume mode AFM study with hydrophilic and hydrophobic AFM tips. On the basis of the detailed analysis of force-distance curves acquired on the bubbles, we found that for hydrophobic tips the bubble interface may jump toward the tip and that the tip-bubble interaction strength and the magnitude of the bubble deformation were functions of vertical and horizontal position of the tip on the bubble and depended on the bubble size and tip size and functionality. The spatial variation is attributed to long-range attractive forces originating from the substrate under the bubbles, which dominate the interaction at the bubble rim. The nonuniform bubble deformation leads to a nonuniform underestimation of the bubble height, width, and contact angle in conventional AFM height data. In particular, scanning with a hydrophobic tip resulted in severe bubble deformation and distorted information in the AFM height image. For a typical nanobubble, the upward deformation may extend up to tens of nanometers above the unperturbed bubble height, and the lateral deformation may constitute 20% of the bubble width. Therefore, only scanning with a hydrophilic tip and no direct contact between the tip and the bubble may reduce nanobubble deformation and provide reliable AFM images that can be used to estimate adequately the unperturbed nanobubble dimensions. The deformation of the bubble shape and underestimation of the bubble size lead to the conclusion that the profile of surface nanobubbles is much closer than previously thought to a nearly flat bubble profile and hence that the Laplace pressure is much closer to the atmospheric pressure. Together with line pinning, this may explain the long nanobubble lifetimes observed previously. The findings presented in this report hold independently of the material that constitutes the interrogated nanoscale surface features.

Hydrodynamic effects of the tip movement on surface nanobubbles: a combined tapping mode, lift mode and force volume mode AFM study

We report on an Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) study of AFM tip-nanobubble interactions in experiments conducted on argon surface nanobubbles on HOPG (highly oriented pyrolytic graphite) in water in tapping mode, lift mode and Force Volume (FV) mode AFM. By subsequent data acquisition on the same nanobubbles in these three different AFM modes, we could directly compare the effect of different tip-sample interactions. The tip-bubble interaction strength was found to depend on the vertical and horizontal position of the tip on the bubble with respect to the bubble center. The interaction forces measured experimentally were in good agreement with the forces calculated using the dynamic interaction model. The strength of the hydrodynamic effect was also found to depend on the direction of the tip movement. It was more pronounced in the FV mode, in which the tip approaches the bubble from the top, than in the lift mode, in which the tip approaches the bubble from the side. This result suggests that the direction of tip movement influences the bubble deformation. The effect should be taken into account when nanobubbles are analysed by AFM in various scanning modes.

Exposing nanobubble-like objects to a degassed environment

The primary attribute of interest of surface nanobubbles is their unusual stability and a number of theories trying to explain this have been put forward. Interestingly, the dissolution of nanobubbles is a topic that did not receive a lot of attention yet. In this work we applied two different experimental procedures which should cause gaseous nanobubbles to completely dissolve. In our experiments we nucleated nanobubble-like objects by putting a drop of water on HOPG using a plastic syringe and a disposable needle. In method A, the nanobubble-like objects were exposed to a flow of degassed water (1.17 mg l(-1)) for 96 hours. In method B, the ambient pressure was lowered in order to degas the liquid and the nanobubble-like objects. Interestingly, the nanobubble-like objects remained stable after exposure to both methods. After thorough investigation of the procedures and materials used during our experiments, we found that the nanobubble-like objects were induced by the use of disposable needles in which PDMS contaminated the water. It is very important for the nanobubble community to be aware of the fact that, although features look and behave like nanobubbles, in some cases they might in fact be induced by contamination. The presence of contamination could also resolve some inconsistencies found in the nanobubble literature.

Characterization of the interaction between AFM tips and surface nanobubbles

While the presence of gaseous enclosures observed at various solid-water interfaces, the so-called "surface nanobubles", has been confirmed by many groups in recent years, their formation, properties, and stability have not been convincingly and exhaustively explained. Here we report on an atomic force microscopy (AFM) study of argon nanobubbles on highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) in water to elucidate the properties of nanobubble surfaces and the mechanism of AFM tip-nanobubble interaction. In particular, the deformation of the nanobubble-water interface by the AFM tip and the question whether the AFM tip penetrates the nanobubble during scanning were addressed by this combined intermittent contact (tapping) mode and force volume AFM study. We found that the stiffness of nanobubbles was smaller than the cantilever spring constant and comparable with the surface tension of water. The interaction with the AFM tip resulted in severe quasi-linear deformation of the bubbles; however, in the case of tip-bubble attraction, the interface deformed toward the tip. We tested two models of tip-bubble interaction, namely, the capillary force and the dynamic interaction model, and found, depending on the tip properties, good agreement with experimental data. The results showed that the tip-bubble interaction strength and the magnitude of the bubble deformation depend strongly on tip and bubble geometry and on tip and substrate material, and are very sensitive to the presence of contaminations that alter the interfacial tension. In particular, nanobubbles interacted differently with hydrophilic and hydrophobic AFM tips, which resulted in qualitatively and quantitatively different force curves measured on the bubbles in the experiments. To minimize bubble deformation and obtain reliable AFM results, nanobubbles must be measured with a sharp hydrophilic tip and with a cantilever having a very low spring constant in a contamination-free system.

Coalescence and stability analysis of surface nanobubbles on the polystyrene/water interface

In this article, we have studied the surface nanobubbles on polystyrene (PS)/water interfaces using tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM). Detailed bubble coalescence phenomenon of differently sized surface nanobubbles (with lateral size up to about ∼10 μm) was obtained. The quantity of gas molecules, before and after coalescence, was calculated. It was found that after coalescence the quantity of gas molecules was increased by approximately 112.5%. The possible reasons for this phenomenon were analyzed and discussed. Our analysis shows that a reasonable explanation should be an influx of gas into the bubble caused by the depinning of the contact line and the decrease in the inner pressure during bubble coalescence. The factors affecting the coalescence speed of surface bubbles were also discussed. It was found that the coalescence speed of larger bubbles is usually slower than that of the smaller ones. We also noticed that it is uncertain whether a larger or smaller bubble will move first to merge into others. This is due to the combined effects of the contact line and the surface properties. Furthermore, the temporal evolution of surface bubbles was studied. The three-phase contact line of bubbles kept the pinning within the incubation time. This was consistent with the contact line pinning theory, based on which the theoretical lifetime of the surface bubbles in our experiments was calculated to be t(b) ≈ 6.9 h. This value is close to the experimental results. Meanwhile, the faster gas diffusion from the oversized bubbles after 12 h of incubation was observed and analyzed. Our results indicate that a viable stability mechanism for surface nanobubbles would be favored simultaneously by the contact line pinning, gas influx near the contact line from an interfacial gas enrichment (IGE), a thin "contaminant film" around the gas/liquid interface, and even the electrostatic effect.

Imaging surface nanobubbles at graphite-water interfaces with different atomic force microscopy modes

We have imaged nanobubbles on highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces in pure water with different atomic force microscopy (AFM) modes, including the frequency-modulation, the tapping, and the PeakForce techniques. We have compared the performance of these modes in obtaining the surface profiles of nanobubbles. The frequency-modulation mode yields a larger height value than the other two modes and can provide more accurate measurement of the surface profiles of nanobubbles. Imaging with PeakForce mode shows that a nanobubble appears smaller and shorter with increasing peak force and disappears above a certain peak force, but the size returns to the original value when the peak force is reduced. This indicates that imaging with high peak forces does not cause gas removal from the nanobubbles. Based on the presented findings and previous AFM observations, the existing models for nanobubbles are reviewed and discussed. The model of gas aggregate inside nanobubbles provides a better explanation for the puzzles of the high stability and the contact angle of surface nanobubbles.

The effect of PeakForce tapping mode AFM imaging on the apparent shape of surface nanobubbles

Until now, TM AFM (tapping mode or intermittent contact mode atomic force microscopy) has been the most often applied direct imaging technique to analyze surface nanobubbles at the solid-aqueous interface. While the presence and number density of nanobubbles can be unequivocally detected and estimated, it remains unclear how much the a priori invasive nature of AFM affects the apparent shapes and dimensions of the nanobubbles. To be able to successfully address the unsolved questions in this field, the accurate knowledge of the nanobubbles' dimensions, radii of curvature etc is necessary. In this contribution we present a comparative study of surface nanobubbles on HOPG (highly oriented pyrolytic graphite) in water acquired with (i) TM AFM and (ii) the recently introduced PFT (PeakForce tapping) mode, in which the force exerted on the nanobubbles rather than the amplitude of the resonating cantilever is used as the AFM feedback parameter during imaging. In particular, we analyzed how the apparent size and shape of nanobubbles depend on the maximum applied force in PFT AFM. Even for forces as small as 73 pN, the nanobubbles appeared smaller than their true size, which was estimated from an extrapolation of the bubble height to zero applied force. In addition, the size underestimation was found to be more pronounced for larger bubbles. The extrapolated true nanoscopic contact angles for nanobubbles on HOPG, measured in PFT AFM, ranged from 145° to 175° and were only slightly underestimated by scanning with non-zero forces. This result was comparable to the nanoscopic contact angles of 160°-175° measured using TM AFM in the same set of experiments. Both values disagree, in accordance with the literature, with the macroscopic contact angle of water on HOPG, measured here to be 63° ± 2°.