Trapping, focusing and sorting of microparticles through bubble streaming

Abstract

Ultrasound-driven microbubbles rectify oscillatory motion into strong steady streaming flow [1, 2]. In this fluid dynamics video, we show size-dependent trapping, focusing and sorting of microparticles, utilizing the interaction between bubble streaming and the induced streaming around the mobile particles. This mechanism is purely passive and is selective for sizes and size differentials far smaller than any scale imposed by the device geometry.