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Propulsion of bubble-based acoustic microswimmers


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Authors

Bertin, N 
Spelman, TA 
Stephan, O 
Gredy, L 
Bouriau, M 

Abstract

Acoustic microswimmers present a great potential for microfluidic applications and targeted drug delivery. Here, we introduce armored microbubbles (size range, 10–20 μm) made by three-dimensional microfabrication, which allows the bubbles to last for hours even under forced oscillations. The acoustic resonance of the armored microbubbles is found to be dictated by capillary forces and not by gas volume, and its measurements agree with a theoretical calculation. We further measure experimentally and predict theoretically the net propulsive flow generated by the bubble vibration. This flow, due to steady streaming in the fluid, can reach 100 mm/s, and is affected by the presence of nearby walls. Finally, microswimmers in motion are shown, either as spinning devices or free swimmers.

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Keywords

4012 Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Engineering, 51 Physical Sciences, 40 Engineering, 5103 Classical Physics

Journal Title

Physical Review Applied

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2331-7019
2331-7019

Volume Title

4

Publisher

American Physical Society (APS)
Sponsorship
P. M. acknowledges financial support from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) ERC Grant Agreement Bubbleboost No. 614655. This work has been performed with the help of the “Plateforme Technologique Amont” de Grenoble, with the financial support of the “Nanosciences aux limites de la Nanoélectronique” Foundation. Support from the EPSRC (T. A. S.) and from a Marie Curie Grant (E. L.) is also gratefully acknowledged.