Micron-sized particle separation with standing surface acoustic wave—Experimental and numerical approaches

Novel Approaches Concerning the Numerical Modeling of Particle and Cell Separation in Microchannels: A Review

“…Recent research has been devoted to the manipulation, concentration, focusing, separation, isolation, and fractionation of particulate material such as micro-and nanoparticles, cells, liposomes, microvesicles, viruses, etc., using microfluidic devices, i.e., the so-called lab on chip devices [5][6][7]. Microfluidics-based cell/particle manipulation technologies have shown great potential due to the low sample and reagent volume consumption, low waste generation, high product purity, high sensitivity and selectivity, ease of use, and short isolation time, in addition to being able to perform particle/cell analysis at the single-cell level [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Moreover, downscaling of sorting systems enables less laboratory space, and the integration of multiple tasks and operations within the same device is possible, which not only increases the precision of the analysis but also improves the accuracy, reliability, and reproducibility of sample preparation procedures [14,15].…”

“…On the one hand, they are relatively fast and accurate, able to manipulate particles and cells within simple and low-cost microchannels, and at the same time, they are non-invasive (contactless), label-free (as in most cases it is not needed to use antibodies or beads), and exhibit high biocompatibility such that the integrity, functionality, and viability of cells and biological compounds can be kept preserved during the process [14,16,19]. The main disadvantage of active systems is that they require, in some cases, power and control [8]. Nevertheless, active forces generated by creating electrical, magnetic, and acoustic fields within the microdevice have been employed in various medical, biological, and environmental applications [4,[21][22][23].…”

“…Indeed, the investigation should be focused on understanding the separation and manipulation mechanisms that allow the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software to predict the device performance before fabrication [25]. Using numerical models should be considered a favorable first step for designing a chip as it saves both time and cost [8,26]. Numerical simulations allow researchers to define how design parameters would improve the device functionality, thus minimizing costly prototyping iterations [27].…”

“…Most of the previous works focused on experimental designing and testing were solely based on trial-and-error processes. There is a need to develop efficient models capable of optimizing the preliminary design factors of chips so that precise particle/cell manipulation and separation can be achieved [8]. Owing to this, an impressive growing number of works dealing with the numerical modeling of the process have been reported in the last decade.…”

Neural Network-Based Optimization of an Acousto Microfluidic System for Submicron Bioparticle Separation

“…The formation of SSAW results in the periodic distribution of pressure nodes (PNs) and antinodes (ANs) inside the microchannel. The particles inside the microchannels migrate laterally in response to acoustic radiation force and will be pushed towards the minimum or maximum acoustic radiation pressure lines based on their acoustic contrast factor ( Taatizadeh et al, 2021 ). The particles with positive acoustic contrast factor (e.g., cells and vesicles suspended in aqueous solutions) are pushed towards the pressure nodes and particles with negative acoustic contrast factor (e.g., some subgroups of lipoproteins) are pushed to the pressure anti-nodes by the acoustic radiation force.…”