SAW in Microfluidics
In recent years, attention has been drawn to using SAWs to drive microfluidic actuation and a variety of processes. Owing to the mismatch of sound velocities in the SAW substrate and fluid, SAWs can be efficiently transferred into the fluid, to create significant inertial force and fluid velocities. This mechanism can be exploited to drive fluid actions such as pumping, mixing, jetting, as well as others. To drive these processes there is a change of mode of the wave at the liquid substrate interface. In the substrate the SAW wave is a transverse wave and inside the droplet the wave becomes a longitudinal wave. It is this longitudinal wave that creates the flow of fluid within the microfluidic droplet.
Read more about this topic: Surface Acoustic Wave