Interfacial nanobubbles on atomically flat substrates with different hydrophobicities

Xingya Wang; Binyu Zhao; Wangguo Ma; Ying Wang; Xingyu Gao; Renzhong Tai; Xingfei Zhou; Lijuan Zhang

doi:10.1002/cphc.201402854

Interfacial nanobubbles on atomically flat substrates with different hydrophobicities

Chemphyschem. 2015 Apr 7;16(5):1003-7. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201402854. Epub 2015 Feb 18.

Authors

Xingya Wang¹, Binyu Zhao, Wangguo Ma, Ying Wang, Xingyu Gao, Renzhong Tai, Xingfei Zhou, Lijuan Zhang

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211 (PR China); Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800 (PR China); Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai 201204 (PR China).

PMID: 25694234
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201402854

Abstract

The dependence of the morphology of interfacial nanobubbles on atomically flat substrates with different wettability ranges was investigated by using PeakForce quantitative nanomechanics. Interfacial nanobubbles were formed and imaged on silicon nitride (Si3N4), mica, and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrates that were partly covered by reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The contact angles and sizes of those nanobubbles were measured under the same conditions. Nanobubbles with the same lateral width exhibited different heights on the different substrates, with the order Si3N4≈mica>rGO>HOPG, which is consistent with the trend of the hydrophobicity of the substrates.

Keywords: atomic force microscopy; hydrophobicity; interfacial nanobubbles; reduced graphene oxide; substrate.