Thermal Bubble Nucleation in a Nanochannel: An Experiment Investigation

We investigated the nanoscale thermal bubble nucleation based on the principle of Coulter counter. With micro-nanofabrication technologies, a device was designed and fabricated, and a detection platform was set up which was used to investigate the thermal bubble nucleation of aqueous solution confined in a nanochannel with a cross size of about 100 nm×100 nm. Results show that with the temperature of the solution confined in the nanochannel increasing, the current through the channel increases first and then decreases, and vanishes after a fluctuating period. It can be found that the generating thermal bubbles can hinder the current flowing through the nanochannel. In addition, the shrinking and expanding of thermal bubbles’ volume correspond to the increase and decrease of the current. Finally, the thermal bubbles block the nanochannel entirely. Through the experiment results, our device can be applied to investigate the complex behaviors of thermal bubble produced in aqueous solution confined in nanochannels, effectively.