{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T05:02:20Z","timestamp":1789448540329,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":140,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,13]],"date-time":"2026-09-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789257600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003399","name":"Science and Technology Commission Foundation of Shanghai","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["25xtcx00300"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25xtcx00300"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003399","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["62601506"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62601506"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["62601506"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62601506"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Fritz B. Burns Foundation"},{"name":"Simmons Research Endowment"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0229evh14","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biosensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Acoustofluidics has emerged as a powerful technique for the precise generation, sorting, manipulation, and stimulation of cell-laden droplets within emerging droplet microfluidic studies. Droplet acoustofluidics leverages various mechanisms, including acoustic radiation forces and acoustic streaming, to actively manipulate droplets non-invasively. The remarkable speed, precision, and biocompatibility of acoustic waves make it an ideal tool for droplet-based single-cell-level biomedical research. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in droplet acoustofluidics technologies, highlighting their mechanisms, advantages, applications, and challenges. We have compiled the fundamental principles of acoustic waves and summarized major applications, including single-cell droplet generation, sorting, and active in-droplet manipulation. Despite the advances that current droplet acoustofluidics have achieved, we point out the challenges and give out our thoughts on future improvement directions. These insights will have important implications for advancing interdisciplinary research in cell mechanobiology, drug screening, cell sorting, and mechanophenotyping.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bios16090517","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T10:19:41Z","timestamp":1789381181000},"page":"517","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Applications of Acoustic Waves in Micro-Droplet Technologies"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jianing","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Microelectronics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lijun","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Microelectronics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zheng","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Microelectronics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zachary B.","family":"Cluff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0195-7229","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pam Van","family":"Ry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joseph","family":"Rich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0433-0923","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruoyu","family":"Zhong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Microelectronics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China"},{"name":"Integrated Circuit Research Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12176","DOI":"10.1002\/anie.201200460","article-title":"Droplet Microfluidics\u2014A Tool for Single-Cell Analysis","volume":"51","author":"Joensson","year":"2012","journal-title":"Angew. 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