Generation of Microbubbles with Applications to Industry and Medicine
- Javier Rodríguez 1
- Alejandro Sevilla Santiago 1
- Carlos Martínez Bazán 2
- Manuel Gordillo 3
- 1 1Departamento de Ingeniería Térmica y de Fluidos, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
- 2 Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica y Minera, Universidad de Jaén
- 3 3Departamento de Ingeniería Aeroespacial y Mecánica de Fluidos, Universidad de Sevilla
ISSN: 0066-4189
Year of publication: 2015
Issue: 47
Pages: 405-429
Type: Article
More publications in: Annual review of fluid mechanics
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.