N. Ishida et al., Nano bubbles on a hydrophobic surface in water observed by tapping-mode atomic force microscopy, LANGMUIR, 16(16), 2000, pp. 6377-6380
The silicon wafer hydrophobized with OTS was immersed into water to observe
the surface in-situ by tapping-mode AFM. A large number of nano-size domai
n images:were found on the surface. Their shapes were characterized by the
height image procedure of AFM, and the differences of the properties compar
ed to those of the bare surface were analyzed using the phase image procedu
re and the interaction force curves. All the results consistently implied t
hat the domains represent the nanoscopic bubbles attached on the surface. T
his was confirmed by the fact that no domain was observed in the case of th
e surfaces hydrophobized in the AFM fluid cell without exposure to air. The
apparent contact angle of the bubbles was much smaller than that expected
macroscopically, which was postulated to be the reason bubbles were able to
sit stably on the surface.