The maximum interbubble distance in relation to the radius of spherical stable nanobubble in liquid water: A molecular dynamics study

TL;DR

This study uses molecular dynamics simulations to determine the maximum stable interbubble distance relative to nanobubble radius in water, revealing a proportional relationship that explains nanobubble stability.

Contribution

It introduces a new quantitative relationship between nanobubble radius and maximum interbubble distance for stability using molecular dynamics.

Findings

Maximum interbubble distance scales as R^{4/3}

Stable nanobubbles require interbubble distances below L^*

Provides insight into nanobubble superstability mechanisms

Abstract

The mechanism of superstability of nanobubbles in liquid confirmed by many experimental studies is still in debate since the classical diffusion predicts their lifetime on the order of a few microseconds. In this work, we study the requirement for bulk nanobubbles to be stable by using molecular dynamics simulations. Periodic cubic cells with different cell sizes and different initial radii are treated to simulate the nanobubble cluster, providing the equilibrium bubble radius and the interbubble distance. We find out that for nanobubble with a certain radius $R$ to be stable, the interbubble distance should be smaller than the maximum interbubble distance $L^*$ being proportional to $R^{4/3}$.