On July 27, 2026, Yan's team at the Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, published a paper in Nature Communications titled “Microfluidic pulse oscillator enabled by a shapeshifting liquid metal capacitor”. Research students Liu Yong and Liang Mingyi are co-first authors. Professor Yan is the sole corresponding author.

Conventional microfluidic oscillators rely on fixed multilayer structures, limiting flexibility, reconfigurability, and fast response. To address this, the team developed a single-layer pulse oscillator using a deformable liquid metal capacitor, enabling real-time dynamic control of oscillatory flow in microchannels. Drawing on electronic oscillator circuitry, they equated the reversible deformation of liquid metal to capacitive energy storage and release, and established a fluidic R-C-L theoretical model incorporating resistance, capacitance, and inductance to decipher the hydrodynamic response. Results show that near-field vortices form around the liquid metal capacitor, while far-field oscillatory flow emerges downstream. By tuning the AC voltage and frequency, the surface tension gradient at the liquid metal interface is modulated, altering fluidic capacitance and resistance (inertial effects are negligible under experimental conditions) and thus the oscillatory dynamics. When particle-laden viscoelastic solutions are introduced, the oscillatory flow exerts lateral elastic lift forces on suspended particles, causing size-dependent migration toward the channel center or sidewalls—enabling tunable particle sorting by frequency.

This work achieves precise control over both liquids and suspended particles using the microfluidic pulse oscillator, promising broader applications for lab-on-a-chip systems.

Article URL：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-76085-3