Effects of surface roughness and wettability on bubble nucleation of water containing insoluble gas: A molecular dynamics study

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ae3234

Abstract As heat dissipation in micro- and nanoelectronic devices has become a critical bottleneck limiting performance improvement, microscale boiling has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Bubble nucleation in water containing nitrogen as an insoluble gas on copper surfaces with varying roughness and wettability is systematically investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that increasing surface roughness significantly enhances bubble nucleation by providing additional nucleation sites. The characteristic time of bubble nucleation in water containing insoluble gas decreases with reduced surface hydrophilicity, which differs markedly from previous MD studies of boiling in pure water. This finding suggests that enhanced adsorption of insoluble gas on hydrophobic surfaces facilitates bubble nucleation, in good agreement with experimental observations. These results provide valuable theoretical insights into microscale boiling heat transfer and offer guidance for optimizing thermal management in micro- and nanoelectronic systems.

Keywords: bubble nucleation molecular dynamics roughness wettability insoluble gas

Received: 05 November 2025
Revised: 22 December 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 31 December 2025

PACS:	47.11.Mn	(Molecular dynamics methods)
	47.55.dd	(Bubble dynamics)
	68.35.Ct	(Interface structure and roughness)
	61.30.Hn	(Surface phenomena: alignment, anchoring, anchoring transitions, surface-induced layering, surface-induced ordering, wetting, prewetting transitions, and wetting transitions)

Fund: This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52176077).

Corresponding Authors: Yuanzheng Tang
E-mail: tangyuanzheng@163.com

Cite this article:

Sicheng Zhang(张思程), Mian Yu(余绵), Bingheng Li(李丙衡), Lianxiang Ma(马连湘), and Yuanzheng Tang(唐元政) Effects of surface roughness and wettability on bubble nucleation of water containing insoluble gas: A molecular dynamics study 2026 Chin. Phys. B 35 034701

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Effects of surface roughness and wettability on bubble nucleation of water containing insoluble gas: A molecular dynamics study

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