Webinar on October 25, 2023, 3:30 pm UTC+2
Transient and Directional Flows Generated by Thermoplasmonic Bubble Nucleation on Gold Nanoantennas
In this presentation, we will discuss the possibility to control liquid flows in time and space using microscopic bubbles induced by laser heating of isolated gold nanoantennas in water. Using optical force microscopy, we found that strong flow transients (mm/s flow speeds) are generated as a microbubble is nucleated on an antenna patch [1]. When laser illumination ceases, the bubble disappears abruptly, which makes it possible to modulate flows at up to kHz frequencies. Moreover, by generating two separate but closely spaced microbubbles on polarization sensitive nanoantennas, it is possible to revert the flow direction in the plane of the antennas [2]. These effects could potentially be used as a flexible “contact-free” complement or alternative to conventional microfluidic manipulation.
1. S. Jones et al., Nano Lett. 19, 8294–8302 (2019); ACS Nano 14, 17468–17475 (2020).
2. P. Dara et al., J. Phys. Chem. C 127, 17454–17459 (2023)