Flexible/bendable acoustofluidics based on thin-film surface acoustic waves on thin aluminum sheets

Wang, Yong, Zhang, Qian, Tao, Ran, Xie, Jin, Canyelles-Pericas, Pep, Torun, Hamdi, Reboud, Julien, McHale, Glen, Dodd, Linzi E., Yang, Xin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8429-7598, Luo, Jingting, Wu, Qiang and Fu, YongQing 2021. Flexible/bendable acoustofluidics based on thin-film surface acoustic waves on thin aluminum sheets. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 13 (14) , pp. 16978-16986. 10.1021/acsami.0c22576

	PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (4MB)
Preview	PDF - Supplemental Material Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (696kB) | Preview

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the acoustofluidic performance of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin-film surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices fabricated on flexible and bendable thin aluminum (Al) foils/sheets with thicknesses from 50 to 1500 μm. Directional transport of fluids along these flexible/bendable surfaces offers potential applications for the next generation of microfluidic systems, wearable biosensors and soft robotic control. Theoretical calculations indicate that bending under strain levels up to 3000 με causes a small frequency shift and amplitude change (<0.3%) without degrading the acoustofluidic performance. Through systematic investigation of the effects of the Al sheet thickness on the microfluidic actuation performance for the bent devices, we identify the optimum thickness range to both maintain efficient microfluidic actuation and enable significant deformation of the substrate, providing a guide to design such devices. Finally, we demonstrate efficient liquid transportation across a wide range of substrate geometries including inclined, curved, vertical, inverted, and lateral positioned surfaces using a 200 μm thick Al sheet SAW device.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
ISSN:	1944-8244
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 April 2021
Date of Acceptance:	25 March 2021
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 20:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/140399

Citation Data

Cited 11 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item