Effect of temperature on the morphology of nanobubbles at mica/water interface

The great implication of nanobubbles at a solid/water interface has drawn wide attention of the scientific community and industries. However, the fundamental properties of nanobubbles remain unknown as yet. In this paper, the temperature effects on the morphology of nanobubbles at the mica/water interface are explored through the combination of AFM direct image with the temperature control. The results demonstrate that the apparent height of nanobubbles in AFM images is kept almost constant with the increase of temperature, whilst the lateral size of nanobubbles changes significantly. As the temperature increases from 28 degrees C to 42 degrees C, the lateral size of nanobubbles increases, reaching a maximum at about 37 degrees C, and then decreases at a higher temperature. The possible explanation for the size change of nanobubbles with temperature is suggested.