Acoustics at the nanoscale (nanoacoustics): A comprehensive literature review.: Part I: Materials, devices and selected applications

Abstract

In the past decade, acoustics at the nanoscale (i.e., nanoacoustics) has evolved rapidly with continuous and substantial expansion of capabilities and refinement of techniques. Motivated by research innovations in the last decade, for the first time, recent advancements of acoustics-associated nanomaterials/nanostructures and nanodevices for different applications are outlined in this comprehensive review, which is written in two parts. As part I of this two part review, firstly, active and passive nanomaterials and nanostructures for acoustics are presented. Following that, representative applications of nanoacoustics including material property characterization, nanomaterial/nanostructure manipulation, and sensing, are discussed in detail. Finally, a summary is presented with point of views on the current challenges and potential solutions in this burgeoning field.

Keywords: acoustic microscopy; acoustics; manipulation; nanoacoustics; nanomaterials; nanostructures; nanotechnology; sensing.

Figure 1.

Schematic illustration of integration of acoustics-associated nanomaterials/nanostructures and nanodevices for applications in this review. “Laser generated ultrasound”, Reproduced with permission [29]. Copyright 2018, American Chemical Society. “Nanoacoustic characterization”, Reproduced with permission [30]. Copyright 2017, American Chemical Society. “Nanoacoustic manipulation”, Reproduced with permission [31]. Copyright 2014, National Academy of Sciences. “Nanoacoustic sensing”, Reproduced with permission [32]. Copyright 2019, Elsevier. “Ultrasound imaging”, Reproduced with permission [33]. Copyright 2020, Ivyspring International Publisher. “Photoacoustic imaging”, Reproduced with permission [34]. Copyright 2019, Wiley-VCH. “Ultrasound drug delivery”, Reproduced with permission [35]. Copyright 2017, Dove Press Ltd. “Photoacoustic therapy”, Reproduced with permission [36]. Copyright 2020, Springer Nature.

Figure 2.

Nanoelectrodes for acoustics. (a) MnO_x nanoelectrode patterned on a PMN-PT single crystal surface. Reproduced with permission [46]. Copyright 2018, Elsevier. (b) SEM images of the silver nanowires. Reproduced with permission [49]. Copyright 2021, IEEE.

Figure 3.

(a) A schematic illustration of the mechanism of photoacoustic signal generation. Reproduced with permission [59]. Copyright 2017, The Royal Society of Chemistry. (b) A schematic representation of laser-generated ultrasound configuration. Reproduced with permission [60]. Copyright 2019, IEEE.

Figure 4.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photographs of carbon-based nanomaterials for laser ultrasound nanocomposite transmitters. (a) Carbon black powder-PDMS thin film. Reproduced with permission [69]. Copyright 2015, AIP Publishing. (b) Carbon nanotubes. Reproduced with permission [79]. Copyright 2014, AIP Publishing. (c) Carbon nanofibers-PDMS thin film. Reproduced with permission [69]. Copyright 2015, AIP Publishing. (d) Coated candle soot nanoparticles on the glass in various resolutions. Reproduced with permission [60]. Copyright 2019, IEEE.

Figure 5.

(a) Principles of scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM). Reproduced with permission [96]. Copyright 2019, MDPI. (b) Schematic diagram of atomic force microscopy. Reproduced with permission [97]. Copyright 2015, The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Figure 6.

(a) Ultrasonic near-field optical microscopy. Reproduced with permission [99]. Copyright 2013, AIP Publishing. (b) Near-field thickness resonance acoustic microscopy. Reproduced with permission [30]. Copyright 2017, American Chemical Society.

Figure 7.

(a) The structure of a metallic IDT deposited on a piezoelectric substrate. Reproduced with permission [135]. Copyright 2013, The Royal Society of Chemistry. (b) A microfluidic device with orthogonal pairs of chirped IDTs for generating SSAW. Reproduced with permission [124]. Copyright 2012, National Academy of Sciences.

Figure 8.

(a) Principle of SAW-based nanoparticle focusing. Reproduced with permission [158]. Copyright 2017, The Royal Society of Chemistry. (b) An acoustofluidic-based nanoparticle-enrichment device. Reproduced with permission [126]. Copyright 2017, American Chemical Society. (c) An acoustofluidic device for rheotaxis of synthetic bimetallic micromotors and illustration of its working mechanism. Reproduced with permission [159]. Copyright 2017, American Chemical Society.

Figure 9.

(a) Principle of the acoustic-based nanoparticle separation device. (b) A size-based filter generated by a tilted-angle SSAW acoustic field. (a) and (b) Reproduced with permission [173]. Copyright 2017, Wiley-VCH. (c) Schematic to show exosome solation via standing-wave tweezers. Reproduced with permission [174]. Copyright 2017, National Academy of Sciences.

Figure 10.

Schematic illustration of (a) structure and (b) IDT configuration for a SAW sensor. Reproduced with permission [188]. Copyright 2009, MDPI.

Figure 11.

(a) Schematic of the sandwich immunoassay format utilized in combination with gold staining. Reproduced with permission [196]. Copyright 2011, American Chemical Society. (b) Principle of a SAW biosensor consisting of a test lane (red) and a reference lane (blue). Reproduced with permission [197]. Copyright 2015, MDPI. (c) Schematic of the SAW sensor composed of P(VDF-TrFE)/ZnO nanocomposites in the delay line area. Reproduced with permission [202]. Copyright 2016, Springer Nature.

Figure 12.

(a) Flexible ultrasonic sensor for blood pressure monitoring. Reproduced with permission [49]. Copyright 2021, IEEE. (b) Laser-generated ultrasound-based stress sensing. Reproduced with permission [205]. Copyright 2020, IEEE.