A novel acoustic modulation of oscillating thin elastic membrane for enhanced streaming in microfluidics and nanoscale liposome production

Abstract

Liposomes are widely utilized in therapeutic nanosystems as promising drug carriers for cancer treatment, which requires a meticulous synthesis approach to control the nanoprecipitation process. Acoustofluidic platforms offer a favorable synthesis environment by providing robust agitation and rapid mixing. Here, a novel high-throughput acoustofluidic micromixer is presented for a solvent and solvent-free synthesis of ultra-small and size-tunable liposomes. The size-tunability is achieved by incorporating glycerol as a new technique into the synthesis reagents, serving as a size regulator. The proposed device utilizes the synergistic effects of vibrating trapped microbubbles and an oscillating thin elastic membrane to generate vigorous acoustic microstreaming. The working principle and mixing mechanism of the device are explored numerically and experimentally. The platform exhibits remarkable mixing efficacy for aqueous and viscous solutions at flow rates up to 8000 µL/h, which makes it unique for high-throughput liposome formation and preventing aggregation. As a proof of concept, this study investigates the impact of phospholipid type and concentration, flow rate, and glycerol on the size and size distribution of liposomes. The results reveal a significant size reduction, from ≈900 nm to 40 nm, achieved by merely introducing 75% glycerol into the synthesis reagents, highlighting an innovative approach toward size-tunable liposomes.