Li Pan¹， Hu Jun²， Zhang Lijuan³， Yang Fang⁴， Zhang Xianren⁵， Li Zhaojun⁶， Xu Xiao⁷， Zhou Limin³， Chen Luhai⁸， Zhou Lan⁹

1.College of Environmental Science and Engineering， Tongji University， Shanghai 200092， China； 2.Institute of Materials Biology， College of Sciences， Shanghai University， Shanghai 200444， China； 3.Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility （SSRF）， Shanghai Advanced Research Institute， Chinese Academy of Sciences， Shanghai 201210， China； 4.School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering， Southeast University， Nanjing 210096， China； 5.College of Chemical Engineering， Beijing University of Chemical Technology， Beijing 100029， China； 6.Institute of Process Engineering， Chinese Academy of Sciences， Beijing 100190， China； 7.School of Mechanical and Power Engineering， East China University of Science and Technology， Shanghai 200237， China； 8.Nanopu Detection Technology （Shanghai） Co.， Ltd.， Shanghai 201709， China； 9.National Center for Nanoscience and Technology， Beijing 100190， China

Abstract

Significance This review defines micro- and nanobubbles as a special class of soft gaseous particles or gas-liquid interfacial particles. It reviews their historical development from gas-liquid dispersion， dissolved air flotation， and froth flotation to the discovery of nanobubbles， advances in generation technologies， standardization， and the formation of an academic community. Furthermore， it summarizes the scientific frontiers， technological system， engineering applications， and future challenges of this field.

Progress The concepts， characteristics， and disciplinary boundaries of micro- and nanobubbles are outlined. The development pathway of micro- and nanobubble technologies has been jointly driven by engineering phenomena， fundamental science， functional design， standard systems， and organizational platforms. The major scientific frontiers in advancing micro- and nanobubble research from phenomenological observation to mechanistic understanding include their existence and stabilization mechanisms； charge， adsorption， and mass transfer at gas-liquid interfaces； interfacial interactions of bubbles with particles， oil droplets， and microplastics； free-radical， non-radical， and interfacial reactions； and the integration of multiscale models with conventional multiphase-flow theories. The establishment of a technological system extending from bubble generation to performance evaluation depends on forming a closed loop among generation and preparation， flow-field regulation， characterization and detection， functional evaluation， and standardization. Engineering applications are evolving from isolated applications toward scenario-enabling integration， including enhanced gas mass transfer； interfacial capture and separation； oxidation and activation； size-dependent redox regulation； ecological and rhizosphere regulation； surface cleaning and green manufacturing； functional delivery for biomedical applications； and structural construction in advanced manufacturing.

Conclusions and Prospects Fundamental research needs to progress from phenomenological interpretation to quantitative prediction， the technological system is required to transform from being merely measurable and usable to being comparable and reliable， and engineering applications still need to move from demonstration of effectiveness toward long-term validation. Future research should place greater emphasis on energy consumption， operational stability， material safety， biosafety， chemical-use reduction， long-term ecological effects， and economic viability， thereby facilitating the integration of micro- and nanobubble technology into specific process chains. Overall， the future development direction of this field can be summarized as follows： clearly understood mechanisms， controllable parameters， comparable evaluations， and credible scenario-based applications.

Keywords： micro- and nanobubbles； particuology； gas-liquid interface； multiphase flow； standardization； engineering application

Get Citation: Li Pan， Hu Jun， Zhang Lijuan， et al. Research progress on micro- and nanobubble technologies from a particuology perspective［J］. China Powder Science and Technology， 2027， 33（1）： 1-17.

Received:2026-07-07， Revised： 2026-08-28，Online： 2026-09-12。

Funding：The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51978489).

CLC No.: TB44

Type Code: A

Serial No.: 1008-5548（2027）01-0001-17