The feasibility of gas-gas reaction between H2 and O2 bulk nanobubbles is demonstrated, which deepens the understanding on the non-combustion gas-gas reaction mechanism in nanoscale space. It also provides new pathways for green energy conversion and synthesis of many intermediate and final products, which are inaccessible under mild conditions.
Abstract
Combustible gas-gas reactions usually do not occur spontaneously upon mixing without ignition or other triggers to lower the activation energy barrier. Nanobubbles, however, could provide such a possibility in solution under ambient conditions due to high inner pressure and catalytic radicals within their boundary layers. Herein, a tunable gas-gas reaction strategy via bulk nanobubble pathway is developed by tuning the interface charge of one type of bulk nanobubble and promoting its fusion and reaction with another, where the reaction-accompanied size and number concentration change of the bulk nanobubbles and the corresponding thermal effect clearly confirm the occurrence of the nanobubble-based H2/O2 combustion. In addition, abundant radicals can be detected during the reaction, which is considered to be critical to ignite the gas reaction during the fusion of nanobubbles in water at room temperature. Therefore, the nanobubble-based gas-gas reactions provide a safe and efficient pathway to produce energy and synthesize new matter inaccessible under mild or ambient conditions.