This study presents a novel acoustic mixer comprising of a microfabricated silicon nitride membrane with a hole etched through it. We show that the introduction of the through hole leads to extremely fast and homogeneous mixing. When the membrane is immersed in fluid and subjected to acoustic excitation, a strong streaming field in the form of vortices is generated. The vortices are always observed to centre at the hole, pointing to the critical role it has on the streaming field. We hypothesise that the hole introduces a discontinuity to the boundary conditions of the membrane, leading to strong streaming vortices. With numerical simulations, we show that the hole's presence can increase the volume force responsible for driving the streaming field by 2 orders of magnitude, thus supporting our hypothesis. We investigate the mixing performance at different Peclet numbers by varying the flow rates for various devices containing circular, square and rectangular shaped holes of different dimensions. We demonstrate rapid mixing within 3 ms mixing time (90% mixing efficiency at 60 μl min(-1) total flow rate, Peclet number equals 8333 ± 3.5%) is possible with the current designs. Finally, we examine the membrane with two circular holes which are covered by air bubbles and compare it to when the membrane is fully immersed. We find that coupling between the holes' vortices occurs only when membrane is immersed; while with the bubble membrane, the upstream hole's vortices can act as a blockage to fluid flow passing it.
Aqueous droplets suspended in an immiscible carrier fluid are a key tool in microfluidic chemical analysis platforms. The approaches for producing droplets in microfluidic devices can be divided into three general categories: batch emulsification, continuous production and tailored on-demand production. The major distinctions between each category are the rate of production and the degree of control over the droplet formation process in terms of the size and quantity. On-demand methods are highly desirable when, for example, small numbers or even single droplets of one sample type are required at a time. Here, we present a method for the on-demand production of femtolitre droplets, utilising a pressure source generated by high frequency surface acoustic waves (SAW). An increase in the continuous phase flow rate is enabled by a quasi-3D feature at the droplet production nozzle. A wide range of accessible flow rates permits the identification of different physical regimes in which droplets of different dimensions are produced. In the system investigated droplets measuring as little as 200 fl have been produced, ∼1/60th of the minimum volume previously reported. The experimental findings are supported by a numerical model which demonstrates the link between the number of droplets formed and the pulse length used.
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