Unraveling the effects of gas species and surface wettability on the morphology of interfacial nanobubbles

Abstract

The morphology of interfacial nanobubbles (INBs) is a crucial but controversial topic in nanobubble research. We carried out atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to comprehensively study the morphology of INBs controlled by several determinant factors, including gas species, surface wettability, and bubble size. The simulations show that H₂, O₂ and N₂ can all form stable INBs, with the contact angles (CAs, on the liquid side) following the order CA(H₂) < CA(N₂) < CA(O₂), while CO₂ prefers to form a gas film (pancake) structure on the substrate. The CA of INBs demonstrates a linear relation with the strength of interfacial interaction; however, a limited bubble CA of ∼25° is found on superhydrophilic surfaces. The high gas density and high internal pressure of the INBs are further confirmed, accompanied by strong interfacial gas enrichment (IGE) behavior. The morphology study of differently sized INBs shows that the internal density of the gas is drastically decreased with the bubble size at the initial stage of bubble nucleation, while the CA remains almost constant. Based on the simulation results, a modified Young's equation is presented for describing the extraordinary morphology of INBs.