PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ghaani, Mohammad Reza
AU  - Kusalik, Peter G.
AU  - English, Niall J.
TI  - Massive generation of metastable bulk nanobubbles in water by external electric fields
AID  - 10.1126/sciadv.aaz0094
DP  - 2020 Apr 01
TA  - Science Advances
PG  - eaaz0094
VI  - 6
IP  - 14
4099  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/14/eaaz0094.short
4100  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/14/eaaz0094.full
SO  - Sci Adv2020 Apr 01; 6
AB  - Nanobubbles (NBs) are nanoscopic gaseous domains than can exist on solid surfaces or in bulk liquids. They have attracted substantial attention due to their long-time (meta)stability and a high potential for real-world applications. Using an approach not previously investigated, we exploit surface-electrostatic NB formation and stabilization via application of external electric fields in gas-liquid systems, with the marked result of massively increased gas uptake into the liquid in NB form. The de facto gas solubility enhancement (over many months) ranges from 2.5-fold for oxygen to 30-fold for methane vis-à-vis respective Henry’s law values for gas solubility; the more hydrophobic the gas, the more spectacular the increase. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the origin of NBs’ movement lies in dielectrophoresis, while substantial NB stabilization arises from a surface-polarization interaction.