Acoustophoresis of hollow and core-shell particles in two-dimensional resonance modes

Abstract

Motivated by the applications of ultrasonic particle manipulation in a biotechnological context, a study on acoustophoresis of hollow and core-shell particles is presented with analytical derivations, numerical simulations and confirming experiments. For a long-wavelength calculation of the acoustic radiation forces, the Gor’kov potential of hollow, air-filled particles and particles with solid or fluid core and shell is derived. The validity as well as the applicable range of the long-wavelength calculation is evaluated with numerical simulations in Comsol Multiphysics®. The results are experimentally verified in the acoustic field of an intrinsically two-dimensional fluid resonance mode, which allows for a more complex analysis than the common one-dimensional ultrasonic standing waves or their superposition to two-dimensional fields. Experiments were conducted with hollow glass particles (13.9 μm diameter) in a microfluidic chamber of 1.2 mm × 1.2 mm × 0.2 mm on a silicon-based device with piezoelectric excitation around 870 kHz. The described resonance mode is of additional interest for particle trapping and medium exchange on certain particle types, and it reveals a novel approach for particle characterization or separation.