A review on particle assembly in standing wave acoustic field

Acoustic-induced nanoparticle self-assembly has good development prospects in tailored, bottom-up material design. Acoustic tweezers technology is used for nanoparticle manipulation due to its versatility, non-invasiveness, and biocompatibility; it can manipulate particles of various physical properties and will not cause damage when manipulating cells. In addition, the wide range of acoustic frequencies allows acoustic tweezers to manipulate particles ranging in size from nanometers to millimeters (100–10 mm). Although acoustic tweezers exhibit unique advantages in particle manipulation, there are still few reviews on the assembly of particles induced by standing acoustic tweezers, especially in the area of three-dimensional particle assembly. In this review, we summarized the characteristics of acoustic micro-nano manipulation technology by comparing acoustic tweezers with optical tweezers and magnetic tweezers. Furthermore, we categorized the latest progress in particle assembly by standing wave acoustic tweezers using different dimensions as a framework: acoustic tweezers’ definition, mechanism, and expression formula are also introduced. Finally, we provided opinions and insights on technical obstacles and development prospects.