A Digital Acoustofluidic Pump Powered by Localized Fluid-Substrate Interactions

Anal Chem. 2019 Jun 4;91(11):7097-7103. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b00069. Epub 2019 May 14.

Abstract

The precise transportation of small-volume liquids in microfluidic and nanofluidic systems remains a challenge for many applications, such as clinical fluidical analysis. Here, we present a reliable digital pump that utilizes acoustic streaming induced by localized fluid-substrate interactions. By locally generating streaming via a C-shaped interdigital transducer (IDT) within a triangle-edged microchannel, our acoustofluidic pump can generate a stable unidirectional flow (∼nanoliter per second flow rate) with a precise digital regulation (∼second response time), and it is capable of handling aqueous solutions (e.g., PBS buffer) as well as high viscosity liquids (e.g., human blood) with a nanoliter-scale volume. Along with our acoustofluidic pump's low cost, programmability, and capacity to control small-volumes at high precision, it could be widely used for point-of-care diagnostics, precise drug delivery, and fundamental biomedical research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't