Plasmonic Bubble Nucleation in Binary Liquids

Metal nanoparticles under laser irradiation can produce enormous heat due to surface plasmon resonance. When submerged in a liquid, this can lead to the nucleation of plasmonic bubbles. In the very early stage, the nucleation of a giant vapor bubble was observed with an ultrahigh-speed camera. In this study, the formation of this giant bubble on gold nanoparticles in six binary liquid combinations has been investigated. We find that the time delay between the beginning of the laser heating and the bubble nucleation is determined by the absolute amount of dissolved gas in the liquid. Moreover, the bubble volume mainly depends on the vaporization energy of the liquid, consisting of the latent heat of vaporization and the energy needed to reach the boiling temperature. Our results contribute to controlling the initial giant bubble nucleation and have strong bearings on applications of such bubbles.