Spreading of liquid over solid has an important role in many fields, such as cooling and manufacturing of electronic systems, desalination, advance materials, industrial processing, etc. It was recently found that oil and water may be significantly manipulated by imposing radio frequency (RF) vibration in the solid substrate in the form of surface acoustic waves (SAWs). Spreading of liquid under these condition is further related to the three phase contact angle of the liquid deposited atop the excited solid, such that complex fluids, i.e., emulsions and suspensions, may be manipulated using SAWs. Here we present an initial experimental study, based on previous theoretical analysis, on the interaction between an RF SAW that propagate in the solid substrate and an emulsion, comprising oil drops in a water and surfactant mix. Exposing the emulsion to the RF excitation we observe distinct motion of the different liquid phases according with their particular wetting properties, to result in phase separation.
