Microscale acoustofluidics: Microfluidics driven via acoustics and ultrasonics

TLDR

Acoustic microfluidics uses ultrasonic acoustic fields to manipulate fluids and particles at microscale to nanoscale, reviving interest in this classical field. The review aims to make the field accessible to researchers in materials science, fluid mechanics, and dynamics. It reorganizes the extensive literature and jargon, presenting first‑principles‑derived models to clarify the underlying physics. The review highlights numerous nonlinear ultrasound phenomena, especially in surface acoustic wave devices fabricated with planar lithography, and their diverse micro‑ and nanofluidic applications.

Abstract

This article reviews acoustic microfluidics: the use of acoustic fields, principally ultrasonics, for application in microfluidics. Although acoustics is a classical field, its promising, and indeed perplexing, capabilities in powerfully manipulating both fluids and particles within those fluids on the microscale to nanoscale has revived interest in it. The bewildering state of the literature and ample jargon from decades of research is reorganized and presented in the context of models derived from first principles. This hopefully will make the area accessible for researchers with experience in materials science, fluid mechanics, or dynamics. The abundance of interesting phenomena arising from nonlinear interactions in ultrasound that easily appear at these small scales is considered, especially in surface acoustic wave devices that are simple to fabricate with planar lithography techniques common in microfluidics, along with the many applications in microfluidics and nanofluidics that appear through the literature.