Langmuir, Vol.30, No.15, 4223-4228, 2014
Growth of Bubbles on a Solid Surface in Response to a Pressure Reduction
A diffusion-controlled method is presented to study the growth of bubbles on a solid surface. The bubbles are nucleated spontaneously on a hydrophobic smooth surface in response to a sudden pressure reduction and then grow with an expanding contact line. The evolution of the bubbles in the early stage is found to grow with a constant bubble radius and a decreasing contact angle, while the bubbles continue their growth with a constant contact angle and an increasing bubble radius after the contact angle reaches its equilibrium value. A total variation of about 60 degrees of the contact angle is observed during the growth of the bubbles with the size scale of 10-100 mu m in radius. The growing process is described by the diffusion theory with the validation of the growth constant.