Fig. 6. AENT enables nanomanipulation with single-particle precision.

a 2D lattices containing single 400 nm polystyrene beads in several trapping wells. b Principle of 2D nanomanipulation by tuning the phases of the orthogonal standing waves. c Stacked fluorescence images showing a 400 nm polystyrene particle can be translated along complex paths as letters “D”, “U”, “K”, and “E”. d, e Reversible pairing of single 400 nm beads using 2D electric fields. f Schematic force analysis and levitation of a single 400 nm bead as the amplitude of the standing wave increases. F_AENT acoustoelectronic force, F_Buoy. buoyant force, F_Grav. gravitational force, F_Brow. Brownian forces, DA displacement antinode. The label “s” with bi-directional arrows indicates the direction of standing waves. g, h Deflection of single nanoparticles in continuous flow using narrow acoustoelectronic wave beams. g Deflecting a 400 nm particle in a bifurcated channel. A single 400 nm particle flows to the lower outlet by-default (AENT off, red pseudo-color) or can be deflected to the upper channel when AENT is on (green pseudo-color). Gray shadings: PDMS wall. h Deflection of single 110 nm polystyrene bead, and single exosome particle in continuous flow. The time-elapse trajectories are plotted over the composite image, where the color scales indicate the elapsed time. Time intervals: 100 ms. Scale bars: a: 60 μm; c–f: 15 μm; g, h: 20 μm.