Controlled bubble nucleation in gas-liquid-solid catalytic microsystems for enhanced mass transport

To obtain insight into transport phenomena in gas/liquid/solid catalytic microsystems, a theoretical model was developed to study heat and mass transfer at the microscale in such multiphase systems. In particular, systems were investigated in which the gaseous products nucleate and grow as microbubbles on the catalytic surface, whereas the reactants are dissolved in a liquid phase. A microfluidic platform providing spatial control on the bubble nucleation was designed and fabricated and applied to experimentally study the influence of bubbles on transport phenomena. The observations were compared with our theoretical model.