Tunable acoustophoretic band-pass particle sorter

Abstract

Acoustophoretic separation in microchannels offers a promising avenue for high-throughput, label-free, cell and particle separation for many applications. However, previous acoustophoretic separation approaches have been limited to a single size separation threshold, analogous to a binary filter, (i.e., high-pass or low-pass). Here, we describe a tunable acoustophoretic separation architecture capable of sorting cells and particles based on a range of sizes, analogous to a band-pass filter. The device is capable of sorting an arbitrary range of particle sizes between 3 and 10 μm in diameter with high efficiency (transfer fraction=0.98±0.02) at a throughput of ∼ 108 particles/h/microchannel. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.