Abstract
When applying a voltage bias across a thin nanopore, localized Joule heating can lead to single bubble nucleation, offering a unique platform for studying nanoscale bubble behavior, which is still poorly understood. Accordingly, we investigate bubble nucleation and collapse inside solid-state nanopores filled with electrolyte solutions and find that there exists a clear correlation between homo/heterogeneous bubble nucleation and the pore diameter. As the pore diameter is increased from 280 nm to 525 nm, the nucleation regime transitions from predominantly periodic homogeneous nucleation to a non-periodic mixture of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. A transition barrier between the homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation regimes is defined by considering the relative free-energy costs of cluster formation. A thermodynamic model considering the transition barrier and contact-line pinning on curved surfaces is constructed, which determines the possibility of heterogeneous nucleation. It is shown that the experimental bubble generation behavior is closely captured by our thermodynamic analysis, providing important information for controlling the periodic homogeneous nucleation of bubbles in nanopores.
Highlights
Following Moore’s Law, transistors continue to shrink, enabling the miniaturization of electronic chips
We investigate bubble nucleation and collapse inside solid-state nanopores filled with electrolyte solutions and find that there exists a clear correlation between homo/heterogeneous bubble nucleation and the pore diameter
We show that even if the pore surface temperature allows the formation of a heterogeneous nucleus, nucleation can be suppressed if Tp > 0
Summary
Following Moore’s Law, transistors continue to shrink, enabling the miniaturization of electronic chips In the meantime, these closely packed electronic components are subject to significant heat generation in high-performance electronic devices. These closely packed electronic components are subject to significant heat generation in high-performance electronic devices In this context, two-phase cooling using microchannel evaporators has emerged as an energy-efficient cooling solution. Two-phase cooling using microchannel evaporators has emerged as an energy-efficient cooling solution In this system, liquid refrigerant enters from one end of a channel and vaporizes while consuming heat from the underlying chip. Liquid refrigerant enters from one end of a channel and vaporizes while consuming heat from the underlying chip This heat transfer method via flow boiling may cause chip overheating due to flow instabilities originating from spontaneous bubble nucleation on the channel walls. For compact systems (e.g., 3D chips) comprising sub-100-μm channels, homogeneous bubble seeds, originating in the bulk phase and operating on the nanoscale, are needed
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