Combustion of hydrogen-oxygen mixture in electrochemically generated nanobubbles

Svetovoy, Vitaly B. and Sanders, Remco G.P. and Lammerink, Theo S.J. and Elwenspoek, Miko (2011) Combustion of hydrogen-oxygen mixture in electrochemically generated nanobubbles. Physical Review E: Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 84 (3). 035302. ISSN 1539-3755

PDF
Restricted to UT campus only: Request a copy
493Kb

Abstract:	Ignition of exothermic chemical reactions in small volumes is considered as difficult or impossible due to the large surface-to-volume ratio. Here observation of the spontaneous reaction is reported between hydrogen and oxygen in bubbles whose diameter is smaller than a threshold value around 150 nm. The effect is attributed to high Laplace pressure and to fast dynamics in nanobubbles and is the first indication on combustion in the nanoscale. In this study the bubbles were produced by water electrolysis using successive generation of H2 and O2 above the same electrode with short voltage pulses in the microsecond range. The process was observed in a microsystem at current densities > 1000 A/cm2 and relative supersaturations > 1000.
Item Type:	Article
Copyright:	© 2011 American Physical Society
Faculty:	Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS)
Research Group:	Transducers Science and Technology (TST)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/78664
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.84.035302
Export this item as:	BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager

Repository Staff Only: item control page