| Item | Frequency | Impedance | Capacitance |
| 1628-4d | 28 | 6 | 4000 |
Applications
Sonication can be used for the production of nanoparticles, such as
nanoemulsions, nanocrystals, liposomes and wax emulsions, as well
as for wastewater purification, degassing, extraction of seaweed
polysaccharides and plant oil, extraction of anthocyanins and
antioxidants, production of biofuels, crude oil desulphurization,
cell disruption, polymer and epoxy processing, adhesive thinning,
and many other processes. It is applied in pharmaceutical,
cosmetic, water, food, ink, paint, coating, wood treatment,
metalworking, nanocomposite, pesticide, fuel, wood product and many
other industries.
Sonication can be used to speed dissolution, by breaking
intermolecular interactions. It is especially useful when it is not
possible to stir the sample, as with NMR tubes. It may also be used
to provide the energy for certain chemical reactions to proceed.
Sonication can be used to remove dissolved gases from liquids
(degassing) by sonicating the liquid while it is under a vacuum.
This is an alternative to the freeze-pump-thaw and sparging
methods.
In biological applications, sonication may be sufficient to disrupt
or deactivate a biological material. For example, sonication is
often used to disrupt cell membranes and release cellular contents.
This process is called sonoporation. Small unilamellar vesicles
(SUVs) can be made by sonication of a dispersion of large
multilamellar vesicles (LMVs). Sonication is also used to fragment
molecules of DNA, in which the DNA subjected to brief periods of
sonication is sheared into smaller fragments.
Sonication is commonly used in nanotechnology for evenly dispersing
nanoparticles in liquids. Additionally, it is used to break up
aggregates of micron-sized colloidal particles.
Sonication can also be used to initiate crystallisation processes
and even control polymorphic crystallisations. It is used to
intervene in anti-solvent precipitations (crystallisation) to aid
mixing and isolate small crystals.
Sonication is the mechanism used in ultrasonic cleaning—loosening
particles adhering to surfaces. In addition to laboratory science
applications, sonicating baths have applications including cleaning
objects such as spectacles and jewelry.
Sonication is used in food industry as well. Main applications are
for dispersion to save expensive emulgators (mayonnaise) or to
speed up filtration processes (vegetable oil etc.). Experiments
with sonification for artificial ageing of liquors and other
alcoholic beverages were conducted.
Soil samples are often subjected to ultrasound in order to break up
soil aggregates; this allows the study of the different
constituents of soil aggregates (especially soil organic matter)
without subjecting them to harsh chemical treatment.
Sonication is also used to extract microfossils from rock.
