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Optoelectronic tweezers: a versatile toolbox for nano-/micro-manipulation
Shuailong Zhang1,2,3, Bingrui Xu1,2, Mohamed Elsayed4,5
1School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Room 711, Building No 6, Science and Technology Park, 5 Zhongguancun South St, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China. shuailong.zhang@bit.edu.cn.
Chemical Society Reviews
|October 26, 2022
Summary
Optoelectronic tweezers (OET) use light and electric fields to precisely manipulate micro-objects. This review covers OET mechanisms, applications, and future potential in science and engineering.
Area of Science:
- Micro/Nanotechnology
- Biophysics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Micromanipulation is crucial for microfabrication, cell analysis, and nano/micro-machines.
- Existing techniques offer various manipulation capabilities.
- Optoelectronic tweezers (OET) integrate light and electric fields using semiconductor photoconductivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a comprehensive review of optoelectronic tweezers (OET) technology.
- To discuss OET's working mechanisms, experimental setups, and applications.
- To explore OET's commercialization and future prospects.
Main Methods:
- Leveraging the photoconductive effect of semiconductor materials.
- Utilizing light-induced changes in electric fields for object manipulation.
- Reviewing existing research on OET principles and implementations.
Main Results:
- OET enables precise, flexible, and high-throughput manipulation of nano/micro-objects.
- OET offers programmability, versatility, and integration advantages.
- OET has demonstrated impressive performance across diverse scientific and engineering fields.
Conclusions:
- OET is a state-of-the-art micromanipulation technique with broad applicability.
- The technology shows significant potential for advancements in various scientific domains.
- Future research directions and commercialization opportunities for OET are promising.
