Splitting Drops on a Piezoelectric Substrate by Help of Surface Acoustic Wave

• Published in: Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 336-338; pp. 80 - 83
• Main Authors: Zha, Yan, Fu, Xiang Ting, Zhang, Ai Liang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Zurich Trans Tech Publications Ltd 01.07.2013
• Subjects: Piezoelectric Substrate; Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW); Interdigital Transducer; Fission; Drop
• ISBN: 9783037857519; 303785751X
• ISSN: 1660-9336; 1662-7482; 1662-7482
• DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.336-338.80

A new method for splitting drops on a piezoelectric substrate is presented. An interdigital transducer with the period of 144μm is fabricated on a 128° yx-LiNbO3 piezoelectric substrate using microelectric technology. Intermittent surface acoustic wave is generated by an on-to-off radio frequency signal, which is applied to the interdigital transducer, and then radiates into a drop on the acoustic path of the piezoelectric substrate, leading to discontinuous acoustic streaming. A part of the drop is split due to inertia when the surface acoustic wave is suddenly disappeared. Red dye solution drops are demonstrated for fission experiments, and mixture operation of two drops is also implemented using the fission method. Results show that a drop can be split by help of surface acoustic wave, and the distance of two daughters is determined on the volume of the drop. The presented drop fission method provides a new sample preparation technique, which is helpful for microfluidic biochemical analysis in a microfluidic system.