An experimental study of nanobubbles on hydrophobic surfaces

With the recent development of microfluidic systems, miniaturization of flow devices has become a real challenge. Microchannels, however, are characterized by a large surface area-to-volume ratio so that surface properties strongly affect flow resistance in sub-micrometer devices. Recent studies in the literature have opened up the possibility of a controlled realization of nanobubbles- found to exist primarily on hydrophobic surfaces- that can play all important role in changing the hydrodynamic boundary condition at the fluid-solid interface giving rise to considerable reduction in friction of the fluid flow past the solid boundaries. In this study, we seek to increase our understanding of the formation, morphology, and stability of nanobubbles. Further. we seek to exploit the dependence of nanobubble formation on surface to provide a means for controlling hydrodynamic boundary conditions at the solid-liquid interface. The formation of nanobubbles at solid-liquid interfaces has been studied using the atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging technique. Nanobubble formation strongly depends on both the hydrophobicity of the solid surface and the polarity of the liquid subphase.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Agarwal, Abhinandan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gareth H. McKinley.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34104

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34104