Generation of Microbubbles with Applications to Industry and Medicine Articles uri icon

publication date

  • January 2015

start page

  • 405

end page

  • 429

volume

  • 47

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0066-4189

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1545-4479

abstract

  • We provide a comprehensive and systematic description of the diverse microbubble generation methods recently developed to satisfy emerging technological, pharmaceutical, and medical demands. We first introduce a theoretical framework unifying the physics of bubble formation in the wide variety of existing types of generators. These devices are then classified according to the way the bubbling process is controlled: outer liquid flows (e.g., coflows, cross flows, and flow-focusing flows), acoustic forcing, and electric fields. We also address modern techniques developed to produce bubbles coated with surfactants and liquid shells. The stringent requirements to precisely control the bubbling frequency, the bubble size, and the properties of the coating make microfluidics the natural choice to implement such techniques.

subjects

  • Biology and Biomedicine
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Medicine

keywords

  • drops; bubbles; surfactants; biomedicine; acoustics; microfluidic devices