RSPE » Study physics » Potential student research projects » Nanobubbles

This field is moving fast so the nature of the projects are also moving on so I'll just give an overview of the sorts of things we are doing at the moment.

We use the Atoic Force Microscope to image nanobubbles on surfaces. These nanobubbles grow or shrink over time. We are looking at the effect of the solvent on nanobubble behavior and what happens if we change the amount of gas in the solvent. With our new AFM we will be able to study the effect of changes in temperature on nanobubble behavior.

We are also working on the theory of nanobubble stability. This has implications not just for nanobubbles at surfaces but also nanobubbles in bulk as well as wider implications for important questions such as if my mate shakes my beer how long do I have to wait until it is safe to open it?

Anothe interesting problem is the shape of nanobubbles. They are not what we would expect from comparison to larger bubbles. This tells us that there is something missing in our understanding. We are looking at theories for describing why these nanosized objects have a different shape.

Nil courses. A curious mind. Logical and creative thinking, persistence and imagination and some grit and determination

For some info on the topic see: 

A history of Nanobubbles
DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02489
Langmuir 2016, 32, 11086−11100

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