Acoustic Streaming-Based 3D Cell Focusing and Plasma Separation

Separating plasma from small-volume blood samples is important for rapid blood analysis in point-of-care testing. Microfluidic approaches provide flexible platforms for plasma extraction, but many methods either require complex pretreatment or rely on sheath-assisted or multi-step operations. In this study, we present an acoustofluidic platform that enables sheath-free three-dimensional (3D) focusing of blood cells and downstream plasma extraction in an integrated microchip. The device employs symmetric cavity-trapped bubbles to generate acoustic streaming under acoustic excitation, thereby reconstructing the local flow field and driving suspended cells toward a stable central region of the channel. Based on this mechanism, blood cells are concentrated toward the middle outlet, while plasma is collected from the two side outlets. The device remains operable over a range of inflow conditions through acoustic-voltage adjustment. Using diluted simulated blood samples, the platform achieved a plasma recovery of approximately 71% and a plasma purity of approximately 99%. In addition, cell-viability tests indicated good biocompatibility under the tested operating conditions. Owing to its simple structure, integrated design, and sheath-free operation, this platform shows potential for future miniaturized sample-preparation applications. However, further validation using real whole blood and clinically relevant plasma-quality metrics will be required in future studies.