Printing with sound

Highlights: > Harvard University researchers have developed a new printing technology that uses sound waves to control the size of liquid droplets independent of fluid viscosity > This approach could greatly broaden the types of liquids, including biopharmaceuticals, that can be printed drop-on-demand > The researchers used sound waves to generate a highly confined force at the tip of the printer nozzle, which pulls the droplet. The higher the amplitude of the sound waves, the smaller the droplet size. Harvard University researchers have developed a new printing method that uses soundwaves to generate droplets from liquids with an unprecedented range of composition and viscosity. This technique could finally enable the manufacturing of many new biopharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food and expand the possibilities of optical and conductive materials. "By harnessing acoustic forces, we have created a new technology that enables myriad materials to be printed in a drop-on-demand manner," said Jennifer Lewis, the Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences  (SEAS) and the senior author of the paper. Lewis is also a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the Jianming Yu Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. The research is published in Science Advances.