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Acoustic manipulation of small droplets

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Abstract

Surface acoustic waves are used to actuate and process smallest amounts of fluids on the planar surface of a piezoelectric chip. Chemical modification of the chip surface is employed to create virtual wells and tubes to confine the liquids. Lithographically modulated wetting properties of the surface define a fluidic network, in analogy to the wiring of an electronic circuit. Acoustic radiation pressure exerted by the surface wave leads to internal streaming in the fluid and eventually to actuation of small droplets along predetermined trajectories. This way, in analogy to microelectronic circuitry, programmable biochips for a variety of assays on a chip have been realized.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored in part by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF, and in part by the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung under the program “FORNANO”. The present work would have been impossible without the support of many of my students and colleagues. I would like to especially thank the crew of Advalytix, Brunnthal for their efforts to make a crazy idea into a product that really works and sells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Experimentalphysik I, University of Augsburg, 86159, Augsburg, Germany

    Achim Wixforth & Christoph Strobl

  2. Advalytix AG, Eugen-Sänger-Ring 4, 85649, Brunnthal, Germany

    Ch. Gauer, A. Toegl, J. Scriba & Z. v. Guttenberg

Authors
  1. Achim Wixforth
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  2. Christoph Strobl
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  3. Ch. Gauer
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  4. A. Toegl
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  5. J. Scriba
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  6. Z. v. Guttenberg
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Wixforth, A., Strobl, C., Gauer, C. et al. Acoustic manipulation of small droplets. Anal Bioanal Chem 379, 982–991 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-004-2693-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-004-2693-z

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