Nanobubble assisted nanopatterning utilized for ex situ identification of surface nanobubbles

0391988 - ÚFCH JH 2014 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Tarábková, Hana - Janda, Pavel
Nanobubble assisted nanopatterning utilized for ex situ identification of surface nanobubbles.
Journal of Physics-Condensed Matter. Roč. 25, č. 18 (2013), s. 184001. ISSN 0953-8984. E-ISSN 1361-648X
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP208/12/2429
Institutional support: RVO:61388955
Keywords : water * latex particles * hydrophobic surfaces
Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry
Impact factor: 2.223, year: 2013

Nanobubble assisted nanopatterning of polystyrene (PS) film allows visualization of nanobubble positions and identification of their appearance on the surface ex post by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging ex situ. Due to the PS nanograin size, ~101 nm, nanobubbles of diameter less than 50 nm can be resolved, as well as microbubbles and micropancakes. The time scale of the nanopattern formation was found to be in the seconds range. This relatively short exposure time thus provides the possibility of also resolving some aspects of microbubble and nanobubble dynamics. In this work we demonstrate that ex post, ex situ AFM imaging of a PS surface after its exposure to deionized water allows us to examine nanobubble and microbubble formation, distribution and arrangement without any influence of the AFM scanning tip and under experimental conditions where in situ AFM imaging is not feasible, e.g. in liquid flow.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0221007