Introduction
Since 2005, we have been working in the discipline of acoustofluidics (i.e., the fusion of micro- to nano-scale acoustics and fluid mechanics). Acoustofluidics has a combination of advantages that competing techniques lack: simple fabrication, high biocompatibility, versatility, compact and inexpensive devices and accessories, fast and effective fluid actuation, contact-free and non-invasive particle/cell manipulation, and compatibility with other lab-on-a-chip components. In addition, this discipline opens new avenues of research through the rare combinations of solids and fluids, mechanics and electronics, experiment and analysis, physics and materials, and engineering and biomedicine. Despite its promise, much remains to be explored in the field. Our objective in the next 5-10 years (Fig. 1) is to take the discipline to the next level and help translate acoustofluidic technologies from research labs to everyday use in real-world applications. To achieve this, many challenging problems related to physics, engineering, chemistry, and biomedical applications of acoustofluidics need to be overcome.
Specifically, our research can be categorized into three topics: acoustic tweezers, sharp-edge-based acoustofluidics, bubble-based acoustofluidics, acoustofluidic-based MicroTAS, and optofluidics and plasmofluidics.
You can learn more about our acoustofluidics research through our Youtube channel: Acoustofluidics Lab.