ITHACA, N.Y., April 2 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists studying nanobubbles forming in boiling water say their findings may affect technologies as diverse as inkjet printers and cancer therapies.
Using a microscope and photography with shutter speeds of a few nanoseconds, researchers from Cornell University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology uncovered traces of ephemeral nanobubbles formed in boiling water on a microheater.
The experiments are believed the first evidence that nanoscale bubbles can form on hydrophilic surfaces and the method for measuring nanobubble lifetimes may improve models for optimal heat transfer design in nanostructures.
The researchers say their study has immediate implications for inkjet printing, in which a metal film is heated with a voltage pulse to create a bubble that is used to eject a droplet of ink through a nozzle. The findings also might impact proposed thermal cancer therapies in which nanoscale objects are designed to accumulate in tumors and are subsequently heated remotely by infrared radiation or alternating magnetic fields.
The research is reported in the journal Physical Review Letters.
