Acoustic Rising Microbubbles for Efficient Liquid Operations

TY - JOUR

T1 - Acoustic Rising Microbubbles for Efficient Liquid Operations

AU - Bai, Chenhao

AU - Chen, Zhuo

AU - Li, Yunsheng

AU - Chen, Yan

AU - Shi, Qing

AU - Huang, Qiang

AU - Fukuda, Toshio

AU - Arai, Tatsuo

AU - Liu, Xiaoming

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2026 Chenhao Bai et al.

PY - 2026/1

Y1 - 2026/1

N2 - Efficient liquid manipulation is crucial in chemical engineering, biological research, clinical applications, and materials science. Bubbles, such as boiling, rising, and cavitating bubbles, have been widely employed to enhance mixing and mass transfer through their unique hydrodynamic behaviors. Yet, conventional bubble-based approaches often face limited scalability and poor performance in high-viscosity environments. Here, we introduce a strategy that employs low-energy acoustic excitation of rising microbubbles to achieve scalable and efficient mass transfer across macroscale and microscale domains. By coupling buoyancy-driven convection with localized acoustic microstreaming, acoustic rising microbubbles simultaneously extend the operational workspace and intensify local mass transfer. Particle image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics analyses characterize the distinct contributions of buoyancy-induced flows, acoustically induced microstreaming, and their superimposed effects. Various chemical and biomedical applications, including efficient high-viscosity mixing, accelerated chemical material synthesis, altered cell membrane permeability, promoted cell lysis, and thrombus clearance, demonstrate the great potential of the proposed acoustic rising bubbles for efficient mass transfer in laboratory and industrial liquid manipulations.

AB - Efficient liquid manipulation is crucial in chemical engineering, biological research, clinical applications, and materials science. Bubbles, such as boiling, rising, and cavitating bubbles, have been widely employed to enhance mixing and mass transfer through their unique hydrodynamic behaviors. Yet, conventional bubble-based approaches often face limited scalability and poor performance in high-viscosity environments. Here, we introduce a strategy that employs low-energy acoustic excitation of rising microbubbles to achieve scalable and efficient mass transfer across macroscale and microscale domains. By coupling buoyancy-driven convection with localized acoustic microstreaming, acoustic rising microbubbles simultaneously extend the operational workspace and intensify local mass transfer. Particle image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics analyses characterize the distinct contributions of buoyancy-induced flows, acoustically induced microstreaming, and their superimposed effects. Various chemical and biomedical applications, including efficient high-viscosity mixing, accelerated chemical material synthesis, altered cell membrane permeability, promoted cell lysis, and thrombus clearance, demonstrate the great potential of the proposed acoustic rising bubbles for efficient mass transfer in laboratory and industrial liquid manipulations.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105032638959

U2 - 10.34133/cbsystems.0449

DO - 10.34133/cbsystems.0449

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105032638959

SN - 2097-1087

VL - 7

JO - Cyborg and Bionic Systems

JF - Cyborg and Bionic Systems

M1 - 449

ER -