Ultrasonic Particle Manipulation in Glass Capillaries: a Concise Review
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micromachines Review Ultrasonic Particle Manipulation in Glass Capillaries: A Concise Review Guotian Liu 1,2, Junjun Lei 1,2,* , Feng Cheng 1,2, Kemin Li 1,2, Xuanrong Ji 1, Zhigang Huang 1,2 and Zhongning Guo 1,2 1 State Key Laboratory of Precision Electronic Manufacturing Technology and Equipment, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; [email protected] (G.L.); [email protected] (F.C.); [email protected] (K.L.); [email protected] (X.J.); [email protected] (Z.H.); [email protected] (Z.G.) 2 Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Non-Traditional Manufacturing Technology and Equipment, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Ultrasonic particle manipulation (UPM), a non-contact and label-free method that uses ultrasonic waves to manipulate micro- or nano-scale particles, has recently gained significant attention in the microfluidics community. Moreover, glass is optically transparent and has dimensional stability, distinct acoustic impedance to water and a high acoustic quality factor, making it an excellent material for constructing chambers for ultrasonic resonators. Over the past several decades, glass capillaries are increasingly designed for a variety of UPMs, e.g., patterning, focusing, trapping and transporting of micron or submicron particles. Herein, we review established and emerging glass capillary- transducer devices, describing their underlying mechanisms of operation, with special emphasis on the application of glass capillaries with fluid channels of various cross-sections (i.e., rectangular, Citation: Liu, G.; Lei, J.; Cheng, F.; Li, square and circular) on UPM. We believe that this review will provide a superior guidance for the K.; Ji, X.; Huang, Z.; Guo, Z. design of glass capillary-based UPM devices for acoustic tweezers-based research. Ultrasonic Particle Manipulation in Glass Capillaries: A Concise Review. Keywords: ultrasonic particle manipulation; acoustic tweezers; acoustic radiation force; acoustic Micromachines 2021, 12, 876. https:// doi.org/10.3390/mi12080876 streaming; glass capillary; miniaturized ultrasonic devices Academic Editors: Yongqiang Qiu, Koko Kwok-Ho Lam and Zhihong Huang 1. Introduction Controlled manipulation of microparticles such as bacteria and cells is important Received: 8 July 2021 for both fundamental research and applications in the fields of engineering, physics, Accepted: 21 July 2021 biomedicine and chemistry. To date, numerous microfluidics technologies, such as elec- Published: 26 July 2021 trical [1], magnetic [2], optical [3], hydrodynamic [4] and acoustic [5] methods, have been proposed and developed for the manipulation of microparticles. Among the many tech- Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral niques, acoustic particle manipulation enabled by acoustic radiation force [6] or acoustic with regard to jurisdictional claims in streaming [7] has been proved to be a promising method as it requires no pretreatment of published maps and institutional affil- the particles (i.e., is a label-free manipulation method), can manipulate particles without iations. contact and regardless of their electric, optical or magnetic properties, and has little effect on the viability of cells [8–10]. The acoustic particle manipulation device is commonly referred to as acoustic tweez- ers [11]. One of the main components of acoustic tweezers is the acoustic transducer, Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. which converts electrical energy into mechanical vibrations and generates sound waves in Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. fluid channels that are used to manipulate particles [12]. The most frequently used trans- This article is an open access article ducers are piezoelectric ceramic transducers (PZTs) and interdigital transducers (IDTs), distributed under the terms and which are mainly used to generate bulk acoustic waves (BAWs) and surface acoustic waves conditions of the Creative Commons (SAWs), respectively. In practice, the transducers of most acoustic tweezers are generally Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// actuated by ultrasonic frequencies (i.e., ultrasonic particle manipulation (UPM) [13]), more creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ usually at mega Hertz. According to different manipulation mechanisms, acoustic tweez- 4.0/). Micromachines 2021, 12, 876. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12080876 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/micromachines Micromachines 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 23 Micromachines 2021, 12, 876 2 of 23 acoustic tweezers can generally be divided into three main categories [14], i.e., standing- wave tweezers, travelling-wave tweezers and acoustic-streaming tweezers. ers can generally be divided into three main categories [14], i.e., standing-wave tweezers, When the standing wave technology (which is the most frequently used category) is travelling-wave tweezers and acoustic-streaming tweezers. applied, the acoustic particle manipulation devices are also referred to as acoustic resona- When the standing wave technology (which is the most frequently used category) tors [15]. A fundamental requirement to accomplish various types of particle manipula- is applied, the acoustic particle manipulation devices are also referred to as acoustic tion (e.g., patterning, trapping and separation) is to design well-defined acoustic resona- resonators [15]. A fundamental requirement to accomplish various types of particle ma- tors. This is closely related to another important component of acoustic tweezers, i.e., the nipulation (e.g., patterning, trapping and separation) is to design well-defined acoustic microfluidics system,resonators. which This mainly is closely includes related the fluid to another channel important and the componentsurrounding of ma- acoustic tweezers, terials. The surroundingi.e., the microfluidics materials of system, fluid whichchannels mainly are includescrucial to the the fluid performance channel and of the surrounding acoustic resonatorsmaterials. as they The determine surrounding the propagation materials ofand fluid attenuation channels of are acoustic crucial waves. to the performance of The fluidic channelsacoustic of common resonators acoustic as they resona determinetors are the made propagation out of a variety and attenuation of materials, of acoustic waves. such as glass, silicon,The fluidic metal, channels polymer of (mos commontly PDMS) acoustic and resonators paper. Polymer are made materials out of do a variety not of materials, have good acousticsuch reflection as glass, silicon, performance metal, polymerand are (mostlyusually PDMS)used in and SAW paper. microfluidics Polymer materials do not [16]. Glass, siliconhave and good metal, acoustic however, reflection have low performance acoustic attenuation and are usually and usedhigh indifference SAW microfluidics [16]. in acoustic impedanceGlass, siliconcompared and with metal, fluid, however, which haveare beneficial low acoustic to the attenuation effective propaga- and high difference in tion of acoustic acousticwaves and impedance the formation compared of strong with fluid, acoustic which resonances, are beneficial and toare the usually effective propagation used in BAW resonators.of acoustic wavesSpecifically, and the glass, formation due to of strongits excellent acoustic optical resonances, transparency, and are usually used in uniquely enablesBAW observation resonators. of microparticl Specifically,e glass, acoustophoresis due to its excellent in the fluid optical channel transparency, from uniquely en- any direction, makingables observation it an excellent of microparticle material for acoustophoresis constructing chambers in the fluid for channel ultrasonic from any direction, resonators. Moreover,making glass it an capillaries, excellent material occasion fors that constructing make it easy chambers to generate for ultrasonic whole res- resonators. More- onances and haveover, no glass requirement capillaries, on occasionsadditional that bonding make itof easy a glass to generatelayer (i.e., whole sealing resonances of and have the channel in widthno requirement and height on directions), additional bondinghave been of widely a glass layerused (i.e.,in UPM sealing in the of thepast channel in width decades. and height directions), have been widely used in UPM in the past decades. In this work, weIn present this work, a concise we present review a concise on the reviewrecent onadvancement the recent advancement of glass capil- of glass capillary- lary-based UPMbased devices. UPM Unlike devices. many Unlike previously many published previously reviews published on acoustic reviews tweezers on acoustic tweezers based on the classificationbased on the of classification manipulation of manipulationprinciples, e.g., principles, [17–22], e.g.,this [review17–22], empha- this review emphasizes sizes on UPM inon glass UPM capillaries in glass capillaries with fluid with channels fluid channelsof various of cross-section various cross-section structures, structures, mainly mainly rectangular,rectangular, square and square circular, and circular,which are which shown are schematically shown schematically in Figure in 1. Figure A 1. A brief brief descriptiondescription of different of applications different applications that have that been have achieved been achieved by each by type each of type glass of glass capillary capillary is introduced.is introduced. Figure 1. SchematicFigure 1. Schematic presentation presentation of a typical of glass a typical capillary-based glass capillary-based ultrasonic ultrasonic particle