Images of nanobubbles on hydrophobic surfaces and their interactions - art. no. 176104

Imaging of hydrophobic surfaces in water with tapping mode atomic force mic roscopy reveals them to be covered with soft domains, apparently nanobubble s, that are close packed and irregular in cross section, have a radius of c urvature of the order of 100 nm, and a height above the substrate of 20-30 nm. Complementary force measurements show features seen in previous measure ments of the long-range hydrophobic attraction, including a jump into a sof t contact and a prejump repulsion. The distance of the jump is correlated w ith the height of the images. The morphology of the nanobubbles and the tim e scale for their formation suggest the origin of their stability.