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Abstract In this work, we experimentally measured the pinch‐off of a gas bubble on a biphilic surface, which consisted of an inner circular superhydrophobic region and an outer hydrophilic region. The superhydrophobic region had a radius ofR_SHvarying from 2.8 to 19.0 mm, where the largeR_SHmodeled an infinitely large superhydrophobic surface. We found that during the pinch‐off, the contact line had two different behaviors: for smallR_SH, the contact line was fixed at the boundary of superhydrophobic and hydrophilic regions, and the contact angle gradually increased; in contrast, for largeR_SH, the contact angle was fixed, and the contact line shrank toward the bubble center. Furthermore, we found that regardless of bubble size and contact line behavior, the minimum neck radius collapsed onto a single curve after proper normalizations and followed a power–law relation where the exponent was close to that for bubble pinch‐off from a nozzle. The local surface shapes near the neck were self‐similar. Our results suggest that the surface wettability has a negligible impact on the dynamics of pinch‐off, which is primarily driven by liquid inertia. Our findings improve the fundamental understanding of bubble pinch‐off on complex surfaces. 

Abstract We experimentally studied the effect of gas flow rateQon the bubble formation on a superhydrophobic surface (SHS). We variedQin the range of 0.001 < Q/Q_cr < 0.35, whereQ_cris the critical value for a transition from the quasi‐static regime to the dynamic regime. The bubble geometrical parameters and forces acting on the bubble were calculated. We found that asQincrease, the bubble detached volume (V_d) increased. After proper normalization, the relationship betweenV_dandQgenerally agreed with those observed for bubbles detaching from hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Furthermore, we found thatQhad a minor impact on bubble shape and the duration of bubble necking due to the negligible momentum of injected gas compared to surface tension and hydrostatic pressure. Lastly, we explained the primary reason for the largerV_dat higher flow rates, which was increased bubble volume during the necking process. Our results enhanced the fundamental understanding of bubble formation on complex surfaces and could provide potential solutions for controlling bubble generation and extending the application of SHS for drag reduction, anti‐fouling, and heat and mass transfer enhancement. 

We experimentally studied the effect of a surfactant on bubble formation on a superhydrophobic surface (SHS). The bubble was created by injecting gas through an orifice on the SHS at a constant flow rate in the quasi-static regime. The surfactant, 1-pentanol, was mixed with water at concentration C ranging from 0 to 0.08 mol/L, corresponding to surface tension σ ranging from 72 to 43 mN/m. We found that as C increased, the bubble detachment volume (Vd) and maximum bubble base radius (Rdmax) decreased. For a low surfactant concentration, the static contact angle θ0 remained nearly constant, and Vd and Rdmax decreased due to lower surface tensions, following the scaling laws Rdmax~σ1/2 and Vd~σ3/2. The bubble shapes at different concentrations were self-similar. The bubble height, bubble base radius, radius at the bubble apex, and neck radius all scaled with the capillary length. For high surfactant concentrations, however, θ0 was greatly reduced, and Vd and Rdmax decreased due to the combined effects of reduced θ0 and smaller σ. Lastly, we found that the surfactant had a negligible impact on the forces acting on the bubble, except for reducing their magnitudes, and had little effect on the dynamics of bubble pinch-off, except for reducing the time and length scales. Overall, our results provide a better understanding of bubble formation on complex surfaces in complex liquids. 

The gas (or plastron) trapped between micro/nano-scale surface textures, such as that on superhydrophobic surfaces, is crucial for many engineering applications, including drag reduction, heat and mass transfer enhancement, anti-biofouling, anti-icing, and self-cleaning. However, the longevity of the plastron is significantly affected by gas diffusion, a process where gas molecules slowly diffuse into the ambient liquid. In this work, we demonstrated that plastron longevity could be extended using a gas-soluble and gas-permeable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface. We performed experiments for PDMS surfaces consisting of micro-posts and micro-holes. We measured the plastron longevity in undersaturated liquids by an optical method. Our results showed that the plastron longevity increased with increasing the thickness of the PDMS surface, suggesting that gas initially dissolved between polymer chains was transferred to the liquid, delaying the wetting transition. Numerical simulations confirmed that a thicker PDMS material released more gas across the PDMS–liquid interface, resulting in a higher gas concentration near the plastron. Furthermore, we found that plastron longevity increased with increasing pressure differences across the PDMS material, indicating that the plastron was replenished by the gas injected through the PDMS. With increasing pressure, the mass flux caused by gas injection surpassed the mass flux caused by the diffusion of gas from plastron to liquid. Overall, our results provide new solutions for extending plastron longevity and will have significant impacts on engineering applications where a stable plastron is desired. 

In this work, we experimentally studied bubble formation on the superhydrophobic surface (SHS) under a constant gas flow rate and at quasi-static regime. SHS with a radius RSHS ranging from 4.2 to 19.0 mm was used. We observed two bubbling modes A and B, depending on RSHS. In mode A for small RSHS, contact line fixed at the rim of SHS, and contact angle (θ) initially reduced, then maintained as a constant, and finally increased. In mode B for large RSHS, contact line continuously expanded, and θ slowly reduced. For both modes, during necking, contact line retracts, and θ was close to the equilibrium contact angle. Moreover, the pinch-off of bubble at the early stage was similar to the pinch-off of bubble from a nozzle and followed a power-law relation Rneck ∼ τ0.54, where Rneck is the minimum neck radius and τ is the time to detaching. Furthermore, we calculated the forces acting on the bubble and found a balance between one lifting force (pressure force) and two retaining forces (surface tension force and buoyancy force). Last, we found a waiting time for a finite volume to be detected for large RSHS. The detached volume was well predicted by Tate volume, which was derived based on balance between buoyancy and surface tension and was a function of bubble base radius.