Phononic-Crystal-Enabled Dynamic Manipulation of Microparticles and Cells in an Acoustofluidic Channel

Contactless manipulation of particles and cells using sound radiation forces that can be tuned and adjusted in real time has become important in various applications. These applications include display technology, biomedical sensors, imaging devices, and diagnostic tools. Phononic crystals have many properties that could be beneficial for tunable manipulation in a microfluidic channel. We use phononic crystals to tune sound fields in a microfluidic channel for controllable manipulation of microparticles and cells. An arbitrary stop-and-go motion of particles and cells along a predefined path in the channel is experimentally demonstrated. Analytical and computational modeling reveals how the resonances of phononic crystals tune the sound fields and radiation forces for the desired manipulations. These concepts and realizations of dynamic manipulation of particles in the microfluidic channel advance the development of the microfluidic channel for dynamic acoustic manipulation technologies, particularly benefiting tunable cell analysis.