Sterilization of Biofilm in Foam Using a Single Cavitation Bubble

Abstract

This article presents the sterilization of bacteria using cavitation bubbles. Cavitation generated by ultrasound creates a cavitation cloud. Therefore is more advantageous to generate the cavitation bubbles by laser-induced breakdown, because it is possible to generate individual bubbles for the purpose of study single impact and physical mechanism of acting. The cavitation bubble is generated by a Nd: YAG 532nm laser beam, a short 10ns pulse. Here, we used optics to focus the laser beam and a high-speed camera to visualize characteristics the bubble. We used the method of long-distance microscopy and shadowgraph lightening for the visualization. We used the particle image velocimetry (PIV) method to determine the interaction of the bubble with the surrounding liquid and solid surface. The main goal of the research is to use cavitation to sterilize bacteria and biofilm in impact of single bubble collapse on living cells.

Feasibilities of foam-forming bacteria disintegration by ultrasonic atomization

“…The experimental part is based on previous research [5,6], which contains bubble interaction surrounding of solid surface.…”

Impulsive forces of two spark-generated cavity bubbles with phase differences

“…Although cavitation can provoke negative consequences, if one can control it effectively, the power can be harnessed and nondestructive to the system. Cavitation bubbles can be applied in various fields, such as surgical and medical procedures, cell sorting, bacterial sterilization, ultrasonic cleaning, laser cavitation peening, and ice breaking [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] . Laboratory-scale bubbles are often created using various methods, such as charge explosion, laser focusing, and spark discharge [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] .…”