Growth of Laser-Induced Microbubbles inside Capillary Tubes Affected by Gathered Light-Absorbing Particles
Jia-Wen He,
Hao-Dong Wang,
Bo-Wei Li,
Wen Bai,
Dong Chen,
Min-Cheng Zhong
Affiliations
Jia-Wen He
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Measuring Theory and Precision Instrument, School of Instrument Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Hao-Dong Wang
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Measuring Theory and Precision Instrument, School of Instrument Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Bo-Wei Li
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Measuring Theory and Precision Instrument, School of Instrument Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Wen Bai
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Measuring Theory and Precision Instrument, School of Instrument Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Dong Chen
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Measuring Theory and Precision Instrument, School of Instrument Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Min-Cheng Zhong
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Measuring Theory and Precision Instrument, School of Instrument Science and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Microbubbles have important applications in optofluidics. The generation and growth of microbubbles is a complicated process in microfluidic channels. In this paper, we use a laser to irradiate light-absorbing particles to generate microbubbles in capillary tubes and investigate the factors affecting microbubble size. The results show that the key factor is the total area of the light-absorbing particles gathered at the microbubble bottom. The larger the area of the particles at bottom, the larger the size of the microbubbles. Furthermore, the area is related to capillary tube diameter. The larger the diameter of the capillary tube, the more particles gathered at the bottom of the microbubbles. Numerical simulations show that the Marangoni convection is stronger in a capillary tube with a larger diameter, which can gather more particles than that in a capillary tube with a smaller diameter. The calculations show that the particles in contact with the microbubbles will be in a stable position due to the surface tension force.
