Micro-fabricated electrolytic micro-bubblers

It was found that higher applied voltages coincided with smaller average bubble size, a narrower distribution of bubble sizes, higher bubble fluxes, and a higher current efficiency. The imposition of a hydrodynamic flow was shown to reduce average bubble size, narrow the range of bubble sizes, and reduce current efficiency. Smaller electrode nodes were seen to reduce the number of active nucleation sites and thus produced a narrower bubble size distribution. In the best case, the bubble distribution was nearly mono-disperse with a small average bubble diameter (ca. 40 μm) with repeatable mean bubble diameters and bubble fluxes. Intermediate values of the ratio of electrode node width and cathode/anode spacing provided the largest average bubble diameters.