Ultrasound as Mechanical Force

Abstract

Acoustic cavitation invariably combines chemical and mechanical effects that stem from bubble collapse in liquids. Strategies to harness preferentially the role of mechanochemistry in sonochemistry have been invented and developed in recent years, demonstrating enormous versatility from synthesis and catalysis to biology and analytical monitoring. Most cases involve polymers containing weak bonds that can be fragmented by sonication. The effects are dependent largely on both the nature of substrates and the strength of cavitational collapse.