Influence of dissolved gas concentration on the lifetime of surface bubbles in volatile liquids

Bubbles at the air–liquid interface are important for many natural and industrial processes. Factors influencing the lifetime of such surface bubbles have been investigated extensively, yet the impact of dissolved gas concentration remains unexplored. Here we investigate how the lifetime of surface bubbles in volatile liquids depends on the dissolved gas concentration. The bubble lifetime is found to decrease with the dissolved gas concentration. Larger microbubbles at increased gas concentration are found to trigger bubble bursting at earlier times. Combined with the thinning rate of the bubble cap thickness, a scaling law of the bubble lifetime is developed. The scaling is also found to be independent of factors like container type, liquid pool depth and bubble size. Our findings may provide new insight on surface bubble lifetime and foam stability. • Increasing the dissolved gas concentration will decrease the lifetime of surface bubbles. • Larger microbubbles at increased gas concentrations trigger the earlier burst of surface bubbles. • For volatile liquids, the relationship between bubble lifetime t l and dissolved gas concentration c follows t l ∼ c −3/2 . • Container type and liquid pool depth only influence the absolute value of bubble lifetime, not the scaling dependence on dissolved gas concentration.