Nanobubbles and Surfactants

Abstract

Nanobubbles and surfactants are two special cases with extraordinary properties that have significantly attracted researchers interest in the recent years. In this paper, the relation between them is investigated in terms of interfacial phenomena. It is shown that the observed decrease in the surface tension of anionic surfactant aqueous solutions in the presence of bulk NBs, can be attributed to the electrostatic repulsive interaction between the electro-steric stabilized NBs and the anionic surfactant molecules. This complex system of anionic surfactant-nanobubble functions as a novel surface-modifying agent that can potentially be used in industries like oil & gas industry, food industry, cosmetic industry, wastewater treatment, surface cleaning and medical applications where surfactant technology is extensively applied