NANOBUBBLES AT THE LIQUID/SOLID INTERFACE STUDIED BY ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY

Bubbles on the nanometer scale were produced by a special method on solid surfaces. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to detect these bubbles. It shows that nanobubbles can be seen clearly in the interfaces of liquid/graphite and liquid/mica. In AFM images, the nanobubbles appeared like bright spheres. Some of the bubbles kept stable for hours during the experiments. The bubbles were disturbed under high load during AFM imaging. The conformation of the bubbles is influenced by the atomic steps on the graphite substrate. In addition, a shadow was found around the bubbles, which was due to the interactions between a bubble adhered to the tip and a bubble on the substrate.