  The efficiency of water electrolysis is significantly impacted by the
generation of micro- and nanobubbles on the electrodes. Here molecular dynamics
simulations are used to investigate the dynamics of single electrolytic
nanobubbles on nanoelectrodes. The simulations reveal that, depending on the
value of current, nucleated nanobubbles either grow to an equilibrium state or
grow unlimitedly and then detach. To account for these findings, the stability
theory for surface nanobubbles is generalized by incorporating the electrolytic
gas influx at the nanobubble's contact line and adopting a real gas law,
leading to accurate predictions for the numerically observed transient growth
and stationary states of the nanobubbles. With this theory, the minimum current
for bubble detachment can also be analytically derived. In the detachment
regime, the radius of the nanobubble first increases as $R\propto t^{1/2}$ and
then as $R\propto t^{1/3}$, up to bubble detachment.
