A Bubble-Driven Microfluidic Transport Element for Bioengineering

Microfluidics typically uses channels to transport small objects by actuation forces such as an applied pressure difference or thermocapillarity. We propose that acoustic streaming is an alternative means of directional transport at small scales. Microbubbles on a substrate establish well controlled...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2004-06, Vol.101 (26), p.9523-9527
Main Authors: Marmottant, Philippe, Hilgenfeldt, Sascha, Swinney, Harry L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic streaming
Acoustics
Biomedical Engineering - methods
Bubbles
Cell walls
Flow distribution
Liquids
Microfluidics - methods
Micrometers
Particle trajectories
Physical Sciences
Quartz
Research methodology
Streaming
Trajectories
Ultrasonics
Ultrasonography
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Summary:Microfluidics typically uses channels to transport small objects by actuation forces such as an applied pressure difference or thermocapillarity. We propose that acoustic streaming is an alternative means of directional transport at small scales. Microbubbles on a substrate establish well controlled fluid motion on very small scales; combinations ("doublets") of bubbles and microparticles break the symmetry of the motion and constitute flow transport elements. We demonstrate the principle of doublet streaming and describe the ensuing transport. Devices based on doublet flow elements work without microchannels and are thus potentially cheap and highly parallelizable.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0307007101