Local Enhanced Acoustic Traps based on Vibrations of Microtpillar Arrays

Abstract

Controllable manipulation in nano-/microscale holds considerable promise for bioengineering, intracellular manipulation, diagnostic sensing and biomedical applications. In particular, reproductive manipulation and customized structure is quite essential for micro-/nanomachines to accomplish a variety of on-demand tasks at small scales. Here, we present an attractive strategy to collect microparticles, based on local acoustic forces from the vibrations of nearby microstructure. The micro-manipulation chip is built based on enhanced acoustic field which could tightly trap microparticles to the boundaries of microstructure by tuning the applied driving frequency and voltage. Experimental demonstrations illustrate that the capturing and operation of microparticles is closely related to the size of particles, due to the vibration-induced locally enhanced acoustic field and resultant propulsion force. This acoustic manipulation strategy can open extensive opportunities for lab-on-chip systems, microfactories and micro-manipulators, etc.