Growth Characteristic of Microbubble in a Co-flowing Liquid in Microfluidic Chip

Abstract

Experiments of microbubble formation in a co-flowing liquid in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chip were developed. The experimental system was set up to investigate the effects of liquid flow rate, gas pressure, gas channel width and concentration of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution on microbubble growth process. Three stages of the bubble growth process were first obtained through experiments. The control variable method was used to explore the growth characteristics of bubbles, such as the volume change rate, the contact angle, the ratio of length to width, and the centroid displacement. This study provides an empirical reference for the growth process of microbubbles in microfluidic chips, which helps to achieve precise control of microbubble volume and generation frequency.