Publication Date:
2008-05-31
Description:
Micrometer-sized bubbles are unstable and therefore difficult to make and store for substantial lengths of time. Short-term stabilization is achieved by the addition of amphiphilic molecules, which reduce the driving force for dissolution. When these molecules crystallize on the air/liquid interface, the lifetime of individual bubbles may extend over a few months. We demonstrated low gas-fraction dispersions with mean bubble radii of less than 1 micrometer and stability lasting more than a year. An insoluble, self-assembled surfactant layer covers the surface of the microbubbles, which can result in nanometer-scale hexagonal patterning that we explain with thermodynamic and molecular models. The elastic response of the interface arrests the shrinkage of the bubbles. Our study identifies a route to fabricate highly stable dispersions of microbubbles.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Dressaire, Emilie -- Bee, Rodney -- Bell, David C -- Lips, Alex -- Stone, Howard A -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2008 May 30;320(5880):1198-201. doi: 10.1126/science.1154601.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18511685" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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