Assembly of jammed colloidal shells onto micron-sized bubbles by ultrasound

Abstract

Stabilization of gas bubbles in water by applying solid particles is a promising technique to ensure long-term stability of the dispersion against coarsening. However, the production of large quantities of particle stabilized bubbles is challenging. The delivery of particles to the interface must occur rapidly compared to the typical time scale of coarsening during production. Furthermore, the production route must be able to overcome the energy barriers for interfacial adsorption of particles. Here we demonstrate that ultrasound can be applied to agitate a colloidal dispersion and supply sufficient energy to ensure particle adsorption onto the air–water interface. With this technique we are able to produce micron-sized bubbles, solely stabilized by particles. The interface of these bubbles is characterized by a colloidal shell, a monolayer of particles which adopt a hexagonal packing. The particles are anchored to the interface owing to partial wetting and experience lateral compression due to bubble shrinkage. The combination of both effects stops coarsening once the interface is jammed with particles. As a result, stable bubbles are formed. Individual particles can desorb from the interface upon surfactant addition, though. The latter fact confirms that the particle shell is not covalently linked due to thermal sintering, but is solely held together by capillary interaction. In summary, we show that our ultrasound approach allows for the straightforward creation of micron-sized particle stabilized bubbles with high stability towards coarsening.