Modelling and measurement of ultrasound vibration potential distribution in an agar phantom

Ultrasound vibration potential (UVP) is an electric signal generated from the vibration of particles or ions along with the trajectory of the ultrasound pulses travelling through a colloidal suspension or ionic electrolyte. Therefore, it may be used to characterize or image the physiochemical property of particles or ions. This paper presents a modelling method based on the principle of static charged disc dipole and its equivalent circuit to model the ultrasound vibration potential distribution (UVPD) inside domains of interest. A tissue-like testing phantom (in 82 × 56 × 66 mm) embedded with one or more sample cells made from either agar or colloids with two electrodes fitted at optimized locations outside of the phantom is reported. The UVP measurements in peak-to-peak amplitude of 162/309 μV and 419/499 μV are measured from two interfaces of a single cell setting with either KCL (1 M) or nanoparticles (SiO2 in 21 nm, 1wt %) mixed with agar. Results from the measurement comply with the modelling of UVPD. The experimental results are evidenced from the relative changes of normalised UVP signals from setting up six interfaces of three cells. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using the static electricity modelling method to estimate UVPD. This implies the potential of UVP for medicine and engineering.