Water-induced blister formation in a thin film polymer.

A failure mechanism of thin film polymers immersed in water is presented: the formation of blisters. The growth of blisters is counterintuitive as the substrates were noncorroding and the polymer does not swell in water. We identify osmosis as the driving force behind the blister formation.

Exposing nanobubble-like objects to a degassed environment.

The primary attribute of interest of surface nanobubbles is their unusual stability and a number of theories trying to explain this have been put forward. Interestingly, the dissolution of nanobubbles is a topic that did not receive a lot of attention yet. In this work we applied two different experimental procedures which should cause gaseous nanobubbles to completely dissolve.

Digging gold: keV He(+) ion interaction with Au.

Helium ion microscopy (HIM) was used to investigate the interaction of a focused He(+) ion beam with energies of several tens of kiloelectronvolts with metals. HIM is usually applied for the visualization of materials with extreme surface sensitivity and resolution. However, the use of high ion fluences can lead to significant sample modifications.

Covering surface nanobubbles with a NaCl nanoblanket.

By letting a NaCl aqueous solution of low (0.01 M) concentration evaporate on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface, it is possible to form a thin film of salt. However, pre-existing surface nanobubbles prevent the homogeneous coverage of the surface with the salt, keeping the footprint areas on the substrate pristine.

Temperature dependence of surface nanobubbles.

The temperature dependence of nanobubbles was investigated experimentally using atomic force microscopy. By scanning the same area of the surface at temperatures from 51 °C to 25 °C it was possible to track geometrical changes of individual nanobubbles as the temperature was decreased. Interestingly, nanobubbles of the same size react differently to this temperature change; some grow whilst others shrink.