Acoustic streaming of microparticles using graphene-based interdigital transducers

Vaidotas Mišeikis; Richie J Shilton; Marco Travagliati; Matteo Agostini; Marco Cecchini; Vincenzo Piazza; Camilla Coletti

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac0473

Acoustic streaming of microparticles using graphene-based interdigital transducers

Nanotechnology. 2021 Jun 22;32(37). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac0473.

Authors

Vaidotas Mišeikis¹, Richie J Shilton¹, Marco Travagliati^{1

2}, Matteo Agostini², Marco Cecchini², Vincenzo Piazza¹, Camilla Coletti¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Nanotechnology Innovation @NEST, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Piazza San Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
² NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR, Piazza San Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.

PMID: 34030151
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac0473

Abstract

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices offer many benefits in chemistry and biomedicine, enabling precise manipulation of micro-droplets, mixing of liquids by acoustic streaming and pumping of liquids in enclosed channels, while presenting a cost-effective and easy fabrication and integration with electronic devices. In this work, we present microfluidic devices which use graphene-based interdigital transducers (IDTs) to generate SAWs with a frequency of 100 MHz and an amplitude of up to 200 pm, which allow us to manipulate microparticle solutions by acoustic streaming. Due to the negligible mass loading of the piezoelectric surface by graphene, the SAWs generated by these devices have no frequency shift, typically observed when metal IDTs are used.

Keywords: SAW; graphene; lab-on-a-chip; microfluidics; piezoelectric.