Acoustowetting: Microscale and Nanoscale Liquid Manipulation for Microfluidic Applications

控制液体在表面扩散的能力对便携式诊断微型设备的设计至关重要。该项目将先进的流动可视化技术与分析和数值技术相结合，将阐明最近发现的一种“声控”现象，在这种现象中，微米厚的液体薄膜可以通过定位在衬底上的声波来操纵。这一现象在动态上是丰富和复杂的，表现出有时类似于其他扩散过程，有时非常独特的特点：流动反转、指尖不稳定和类孤子波列。这项研究随后将利用这一基本理解来设计一种将细胞包裹在液滴中的系统，用于药物输送应用。

The ability to control the spreading of liquids on surfaces is crucial to the design of portable diagnostic microdevices. Combining advanced flow visualisation together with analytical and numerical techniques, this project will elucidate a recently discovered ‘acoustowetting’ phenomenon in which micron thick liquid films can be manipulated using sound waves localised on a substrate. The phenomenon is dynamically rich and complex, exhibiting peculiarities that are at times analogous to other spreading processes and at other times quite unique: flow reversal, fingering instabilities and soliton-like wave trains. The research will subsequently utilise this fundamental understanding to design a system for encapsulating cells in droplets for drug delivery applications.