Issue 7, 2020

A disposable acoustofluidic chip for nano/microparticle separation using unidirectional acoustic transducers

Abstract

Separation of nano/microparticles based on surface acoustic waves (SAWs) has shown great promise for biological, chemical, and medical applications ranging from sample purification to cancer diagnosis. However, the permanent bonding of a microchannel onto relatively expensive piezoelectric substrates and excitation transducers renders the SAW separation devices non-disposable. This limitation not only requires cumbersome cleaning and increased labor and material costs, but also leads to cross-contamination, preventing their implementation in many biological, chemical, and medical applications. Here, we demonstrate a high-performance, disposable acoustofluidic platform for nano/microparticle separation. Leveraging unidirectional interdigital transducers (IDTs), a hybrid channel design with hard/soft materials, and tilted-angle standing SAWs (taSSAWs), our disposable acoustofluidic devices achieve acoustic radiation forces comparable to those generated by existing permanently bonded, non-disposable devices. Our disposable devices can separate not only microparticles but also nanoparticles. Moreover, they can differentiate bacteria from human red blood cells (RBCs) with a purity of up to 96%. Altogether, we developed a unidirectional IDT-based, disposable acoustofluidic platform for micro/nanoparticle separation that can achieve high separation efficiency, versatility, and biocompatibility.

Graphical abstract: A disposable acoustofluidic chip for nano/microparticle separation using unidirectional acoustic transducers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Jan 2020
Accepted
12 Mar 2020
First published
20 Mar 2020

Lab Chip, 2020,20, 1298-1308

Author version available

A disposable acoustofluidic chip for nano/microparticle separation using unidirectional acoustic transducers

S. Zhao, M. Wu, S. Yang, Y. Wu, Y. Gu, C. Chen, J. Ye, Z. Xie, Z. Tian, H. Bachman, P. Huang, J. Xia, P. Zhang, H. Zhang and T. J. Huang, Lab Chip, 2020, 20, 1298 DOI: 10.1039/D0LC00106F

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