title: Surface Nanobubbles in Nonaqueous Media: Looking for Nanobubbles in DMSO, Formamide, Propylene Carbonate, Ethylammonium Nitrate, and Propylammonium Nitrate.
abstract: Surface nanobubbles produced by supersaturation during the exchange of ethanol for water are routinely observed on hydrophobic surfaces, are stable for days, and have contact angles that are very much greater than observed macroscopically. Here, we test the hypothesis that nanobubbles can also be observed in nonaqueous solvents in order to ascertain if their anomalous lifetimes and contact angles are related to properties of the solvent. Nanobubbles were seen in the protic solvents formamide, ethylammonium nitrate, and propylammonium nitrate, but not in propylene carbonate or dimethyl sulfoxide. Solvents in which nanobubbles were observed exhibit a three-dimensional hydrogen-bonding network. Like in aqueous systems, the nanobubbles were stable for days and exhibited high contact angles (∼165°).
authors.affiliation: †Department of Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Hongjie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemical Physics, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, P.R. China 230026.
authors.forename: Guangming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: §Discipline of Chemistry, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Atkin
authors.affiliation: †Department of Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Vincent S J
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Craig
keywords: DMSO; EAN; PAN; formamide; ionic liquid; nanobubbles; nonaqueous