Confinement of surface waves at the air-water interface to control aerosol size and dispersity

Nazarzadeh, E. , Wilson, R. , King, X., Reboud, J. , Tassieri, M. and Cooper, J. (2017) Confinement of surface waves at the air-water interface to control aerosol size and dispersity. Physics of Fluids, 29(11), 112105. (doi: 10.1063/1.4993793)

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Abstract

The precise control over the size and dispersity of droplets, produced within aerosols, is of great interest across many manufacturing, food, cosmetic, and medical industries. Amongst these applications, the delivery of new classes of high value drugs to the lungs has recently attracted significant attention from pharmaceutical companies. This is commonly achieved through the mechanical excitation of surface waves at the air liquid interface of a parent liquid volume. Previous studies have established a correlation between the wavelength on the surface of liquid and the final aerosol size. In this work, we show that the droplet size distribution of aerosols can be controlled by constraining the liquid inside micron-sized cavities and coupling surface acoustic waves into different volumes of liquid inside micro-grids. In particular, we show that by reducing the characteristic physical confinement size (i.e., either the initial liquid volume or the cavities’ diameters), higher harmonics of capillary waves are revealed with a consequent reduction of both aerosol mean size and dispersity. In doing so, we provide a new method for the generation and fine control of aerosols’ sizes distribution.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Wilson, Dr Robert and Nazarzadeh, Dr Elijah and King, Xi and Tassieri, Dr Manlio and Cooper, Professor Jonathan and Reboud, Professor Julien
Authors: Nazarzadeh, E., Wilson, R., King, X., Reboud, J., Tassieri, M., and Cooper, J.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
Journal Name:Physics of Fluids
Publisher:American Institute of Physics
ISSN:1070-6631
ISSN (Online):1089-7666
Published Online:15 November 2017
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2017 The Authors
First Published:First published in Physics of Fluids 29(11):112105
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
Data DOI:10.5525/gla.researchdata.496

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
617021Advanced Diagnostics using PhononicsJonathan CooperEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/K027611/1ENG - BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING