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Electrochemical ‘Bubble Swarm’ Enhancement of Ultrasonic Surface Cleaning

Electrochemical ‘Bubble Swarm’ Enhancement of Ultrasonic Surface Cleaning
Electrochemical ‘Bubble Swarm’ Enhancement of Ultrasonic Surface Cleaning
An investigation of surface cleaning using a swarm of gas bubbles within an acoustically activated stream is presented. Electrolysis of water at Pt microwires (100 µm diameter) to produce both hydrogen and oxygen bubbles is shown to enhance the extent of ultrasonic surface cleaning in a free flowing water stream containing an electrolyte (0.1 M Na2SO4) and low surfactant concentration (2 mM SDS). The surfactant was employed to allow control of the average size of the bubble population within the swarm. The electrochemical bubble swarm (EBS) is shown to perturb acoustic transmission through the stream. To optimise the cleaning process both the ultrasonic field and the electrochemical current are pulsed and synchronized but with different duty cycles. Cleaning action is demonstrated on structured surfaces (porcine skin and finger mimics) loaded with fluorescent particles. This action is shown to be significantly enhanced compared to that found with an inherent bubble population produced by the flow and acoustic regime alone under the same conditions.
University of Southampton
Birkin, Peter
ba466560-f27c-418d-89fc-67ea4f81d0a7
OFFIN, DOUGLAS
ddf221b0-9e71-4ffb-97a0-4f5646672851
Vian, Christopher
c5ca4c67-5a34-475e-b99b-04593f9c6cc9
Leighton, Timothy
3e5262ce-1d7d-42eb-b013-fcc5c286bbae
Birkin, Peter
ba466560-f27c-418d-89fc-67ea4f81d0a7
OFFIN, DOUGLAS
ddf221b0-9e71-4ffb-97a0-4f5646672851
Vian, Christopher
c5ca4c67-5a34-475e-b99b-04593f9c6cc9
Leighton, Timothy
3e5262ce-1d7d-42eb-b013-fcc5c286bbae

Birkin, Peter, OFFIN, DOUGLAS, Vian, Christopher and Leighton, Timothy (2015) Electrochemical ‘Bubble Swarm’ Enhancement of Ultrasonic Surface Cleaning. University of Southampton doi:10.5258/SOTON/379557 [Dataset]

Record type: Dataset

Abstract

An investigation of surface cleaning using a swarm of gas bubbles within an acoustically activated stream is presented. Electrolysis of water at Pt microwires (100 µm diameter) to produce both hydrogen and oxygen bubbles is shown to enhance the extent of ultrasonic surface cleaning in a free flowing water stream containing an electrolyte (0.1 M Na2SO4) and low surfactant concentration (2 mM SDS). The surfactant was employed to allow control of the average size of the bubble population within the swarm. The electrochemical bubble swarm (EBS) is shown to perturb acoustic transmission through the stream. To optimise the cleaning process both the ultrasonic field and the electrochemical current are pulsed and synchronized but with different duty cycles. Cleaning action is demonstrated on structured surfaces (porcine skin and finger mimics) loaded with fluorescent particles. This action is shown to be significantly enhanced compared to that found with an inherent bubble population produced by the flow and acoustic regime alone under the same conditions.

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Data_20for_20figure_202.xlsx - Dataset
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S1_20PCCP_20EBS_20Birkin_20et_20al..wmv - Audiovisual
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More information

Published date: 2015
Organisations: Electrochemistry, Chemistry, Acoustics Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 379557
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/379557
PURE UUID: 16093809-da2d-474c-97a5-306e3442a471
ORCID for Peter Birkin: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6656-4074
ORCID for Timothy Leighton: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-8750

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 23 Sep 2015 10:54
Last modified: 05 Nov 2023 02:34

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Contributors

Creator: Peter Birkin ORCID iD
Creator: DOUGLAS OFFIN
Creator: Christopher Vian
Creator: Timothy Leighton ORCID iD

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