Australian and international researchers have upended the long-held belief that boiling water must bubble, demonstrating a method to achieve boiling without bubble formation. Led by Neelesh A. Patankar, professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, the team engineered a surface texture and chemistry that stabilizes a vapor layer between a heated surface and water, preventing the typical bubble nucleation during boiling. This breakthrough, published in Nature in September 2012 and further refined through ongoing research, relies on the Leidenfrost effect-first described in 1756 by Johann Leidenfrost-where a vapor film cushions a liquid droplet on a surface significantly hotter than its boiling point.
The researchers coated tiny steel spheres with a hydrophobic nanoparticle-based spray that created a textured surface of microscopic peaks and valleys. When heated to 400°C and submerged in room-temperature water, vapor formed and remained trapped in the valleys, maintaining a stable vapor film even as the spheres cooled to boiling temperature. This prevented the vapor film collapse that normally triggers bubble formation, allowing water to boil silently without bubbles. The collaboration included Ivan U. Vakarelski from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and Derek Chan from the University of Melbourne, combining experimental and theoretical expertise.
This discovery has broad implications: it could reduce surface damage and bubbling explosions in industrial boiling processes, enhance heat transfer efficiency in cooling systems, reduce drag on marine vessels, and inspire novel anti-frost coatings. Subsequent advances, such as plasma-based superhydrophilic coatings, have expanded the temperature range and stability of the Leidenfrost vapor film, opening new avenues for thermal management in aerospace and power generation.
In parallel, Northwestern researchers led by Kyoo-Chul Kenneth Park have developed leaf-inspired textured surfaces combined with graphene oxide layers that prevent frost formation entirely for weeks, demonstrating the power of engineered surface textures in controlling phase-change phenomena. These innovations collectively represent a paradigm shift in managing boiling and freezing processes by harnessing and stabilizing vapor films at the micro- and nanoscale.
References:
– Northwestern University, Boiling Water Without Bubbles, 2012
– Patankar et al., Nature, 2012
– ScienceDaily, Farewell Frost! New Surface Prevents Frost Without Heat, 2025
– PNAS, Thermo-wetting Instability Driving Leidenfrost Film Collapse, 2020
– Nature, High-speed X-ray Imaging of the Leidenfrost Collapse, 2018
– SciPlasma, Leidenfrost Effect in Plasma Coatings, 2024
– ScienceDaily, Breakthrough Discovery Uses Engineered Surfaces to Shed Heat, 2024
Read More
[1] https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2012/09/boiling-water-without-bubbles/
[2] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/10/241030145719.htm
[3] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1917868117
[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-36603-w
[5] https://newatlas.com/boiling-water-without-bubbles/24136/
[6] https://www.sciplasma.com/post/what-is-the-leidenfrost-effect-in-plasma-coatings
[7] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240524115307.htm
[8] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/leidenfrost-effect