Sound-controlled fluidic processor

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Chemical Engineering
• Physics

Background:

• Liquid handling often leads to residue formation, compromising precision and purity.
• Contactless methods are essential for handling sensitive biological and chemical samples.
• Existing techniques may not offer sufficient control or preservation of sample integrity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a sound-controlled fluidic processor for contactless liquid manipulation.
• To enable precise control over microfluidic functions like moving, merging, mixing, and cleaving.
• To provide a versatile platform for handling liquids with varying surface tensions and volumes.

Main Methods:

• Generation of an acoustophoretic force field.
• Utilizing sound waves to manipulate droplets in a contactless manner.
• Demonstration of microfluidic functions with droplets ranging from nanoliters to milliliters.

Main Results:

• Successful contactless manipulation of liquids with surface tension from 17.9 to 72 mN/m.
• Precise control over droplet movement, merging, mixing, and cleaving achieved.
• Demonstrated preservation of sample integrity during fluidic operations.

Conclusions:

• The sound-controlled fluidic processor offers a novel, contactless approach to microfluidic manipulation.
• This technology is suitable for a wide range of liquid volumes and surface tensions.
• It holds significant potential for advancing biomedical and chemical practices requiring high precision and sample preservation.