About

I completed my doctoral degree at Virginia Tech, working with Prof. Zhenhua Tian. Prior to this, I was advised by Prof. Hong Xu while completing my M.S. at North China Electric and Power University. I received my B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Nanjing Normal University.

My research interests lie in leveraging ultrasound waves (acoustic hologram techniques) to levitate and manipulate microscopic particles through biological barriers. I also integrated ultrasound imaging and robotic manipulation to enhance the adaptability and resolution of this technique.

Contact

liteng@vt.edu
(585) 957-3465

Peer-Reviewed Journals

  1. Teng Li, Jiali Li, Luyu Bo, Hunter Bachman, Bei Fan, Jiangtao Cheng, Zhenhua Tian, "Robot-assisted Chirality-tunable Acoustic Vortex Tweezers for Contactless, Multifunctional, 4-DOF Object Manipulation," Science Advances, 2024, 10: eadm7698.

  2. Teng Li, Jiali Li, Luyu Bo, Michael R. Brooks, Yingshan Du, Bowen Cai, Zhe Pei, Liang Shen, Chuangchuang Sun, Jiaotao Cheng, Y. Albert Pan, Zhenhua Tian, "Airborne Acoustic Vortex End Effector-based Contactless, Multi-mode, Programmable Control of Object Surfing," Advanced Materials Technologies, 2024: 2400564. (Featured as Inside Front Cover)

  3. Teng Li, Du, Bowen Cai, Michael Brooks, Chongpeng Qiu, Zhide Wang, Jiali Li, Luyu Bo, Pan, Yuchin Albert, Zhenhua Tian, “In-Petri-dish Acoustic Vortex Tweezers,” Lab on a Chip, 2024. (Themed Collection: Emerging Investigator Series)

  4. Shuaiguo Zhao, Zhenhua Tian, Chen Shen, Shujie Yang, Jianping Xia, Teng Li, Zhemiao Xie, Peiran Zhang, Luke Lee, Steven Cummer, Tony Jun Huang, “Topological Acoustofluidics”, Nature Materials, 2025.

  5. Yingshan Du, Jiali Li, Chongpeng Qiu, Liang Shen, Teng Li, Bowen Cai, Luyu Bo, Zhenhua Tian, “In-Petri-dish traveling and standing acoustic wave-assisted fabrication of anisotropic collagen hydrogels”, Materials Advances, 2025.

  6. Qipeng Zhang, Luyu Bo, Hao Li, Jiali Li, Teng Li, Zhenhua Tian, Rui Qiao, “Enhancing Performance of Lithium Metal Batteries through Acoustic Field Application”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2024.

  7. Qipeng Zhang, Luyu Bo, Hao Li, Liang Shen, Jiali Li, Teng Li, Yunhao Xiao, Zhenhua Tian, Zheng Li, "Inhibiting Shuttle Effect and Dendrite Growth in Sodium–Sulfur Batteries Enabled by Applying External Acoustic Field," Nano Letters, 2024.

  8. Luyu Bo, Jiali Li, Zhide Wang, Chongpeng Qiu, Bowen Cai, Yingshan Du, Teng Li, Hongye Liu, Zhenhua Tian, "Frequency-Locked Wireless Multifunctional Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors," Advanced Sensor Research, 2024: 2400083.

  9. Jiali Li, Luyu Bo, Teng Li, Penghui Zhao, Yingshan Du, Bowen Cai, Liang Shen, Wujin Sun, Wei Zhou, Zhenhua Tian, "Wireless Frequency-Multiplexed Acoustic Array-Based Acoustofluidics," Advanced Materials Technologies, 2024: 2400572.

  10. Hongye Liu, Ziqi Huang, Zhuang Yin, Maoxun Sun, Luyu Bo, Teng Li, and Zhenhua Tian. "Investigation of viscoelastic guided wave properties in anisotropic laminated composites using a Legendre orthogonal polynomials expansion−assisted viscoelastodynamic model," Polymers, 2024, 16, no. 12: 1638.

  11. Zhichao Pei, Zhenhua Tian, Shujie Yang, Liang Shen, Nanjing Hao, Ty D. Naquin, Teng Li, Lining Sun, Weibin Rong, and Tony Jun Huang. "Capillary-based, multifunctional manipulation of particles and fluids via focused surface acoustic waves," Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 57: 305401, 2024.

  12. Bowen Cai, Teng Li, Luyu Bo, Jiali Li, Rani Warsi Sullivan, Chuangchuang Sun, Wayne Huberty, Zhenhua Tian, "Development of a piezo stack–laser Doppler vibrometer sensing approach for characterizing shear wave dispersion and local viscoelastic property distributions," Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 214: 111389, 2024.

  13. Joseph Rich, Brian Cole, Teng Li, Brandon Lu, Hanyu Fu, Brittany Smith, Jianping Xia, Shujie Yang, Ruoyu Zhong, James L. Doherty, Kanji Kaneko, Hiroaki Suzuki, Zhenhua Tian, Aaron D. Franklin, and Tony Jun Huang, “Aerosol Jet Printing Surface Acoustic Wave Microfluidic Devices,” Microsystems & Nanoengineering, 10: 2, 2024.

  14. Liang Shen, Zhenhua Tian, Jinxin Zhang, Haodong Zhu, Kaichun Yang, Teng Li, Joseph Rich, Neil Upreti, Nanjing Hao, Zhichao Pei, Geonsoo Jin, Shujie Yang, Yaosi Liang, Wang Chaohui, Tony Jun Huang, “Acousto-dielectric tweezers for size-insensitive manipulation and biophysical characterization of single cells,” Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Vol. 224, 115061, 2023.

Book Chapter

  1. Teng Li, Zhenhua Tian, “Phased array techniques for damage detection in aerospace structures,” Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in Aerospace Structures, Editors: F.G. Yuan, G. Jones, Woodhead Publishing, (2016).

Conference Proceedings

  1. Teng Li, Jiali Li, Luyu Bo, Zhenhua Tian, “Generating Multi-Pixel Thermal Images Through an AcoustoThermal Effect,” ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2022, 86670: V005T07A010.

  2. Yingshan Du, Zhe Pei, Liang Shen, Jiali Li, Bowen Cai, Teng Li, Luyu Bo, Zhenhua Tian, “Acoustic streaming effects on collagen self-assembly,” Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems XVIII. SPIE, 2024, 12951: 311-316.

  3. Bowen Cai, Liang Shen, Pei Zhe, Teng Li, Jiali Li, Luyu Bo, Yingshan Du, Zhenhua Tian, “Development of a Laser Vibrometer-Based Shear Wave Sensing System for Characterizing Mechanical Properties of Viscoelastic Materials,” Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2023, 87523: V001T05A001.

  4. Jiali Li, Luyu Bo, Teng Li, Zhenhua Tian, “Alignment of Nanomaterials in Hydrogels by Using Standing Surface Acoustic Wave-Enable,” ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2022, 86625: V001T01A032.

  5. Luyu Bo, Jiali Li, Xinyu Zhang, Teng Li, Zhenhua Tian, “Investigation of Water Effects on Surface Acoustic Wave Transmission,” ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2022, 86670: V005T07A009.

  6. Hajar Right, Teng Li, Zhipeng Jiang, Jiali Li, Zhenhua Tian, “Numerical Study of Ultrasonic Guided Waves in a Composite-Plastic Lap Joint,” IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2022, 55(27): 353-357.

  7. Zhide Wang, Luyu Bo, Jiali Li, Teng Li, Liang Shen, Yingshan Du, Chongpeng Qiu, Zhenhua Tian, “Development of an Acoustics-Based Gas Leakage Sensing Approach”, Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2024, 88322, V001T05A007.

Portfolio

We present chirality-tunable acoustic vortex tweezers that can tune acoustic vortex chirality, transmit through biological barriers, trap single micro- to millimeter-sized objects, and control object rotation.

We introduce a novel acoustic vortex tweezers system, which leverages a unique airborne acoustic vortex end effector integrated with a three-degree-of-freedom (DoF) linear motion stage, for enabling contactless, multi-mode, programmable manipulation of millimeter-sized objects.

News

We presents an acoustic vortex tweezers platform that enables contactless, precise, multi-DoF, and multifunctional manipulation of micro-to-millimeter-scale objects within a Petri dish.

  • 19 August 2025 — Teng Li’s paper won third place in the Student Paper Competition at the ASME IDETC-CIE Conference 2025.

  • 01 July 2025 — Our new article “In-Petri-dish acoustic vortex tweezers“ was published in Lab on a Chip.

  • 28 April 2025 — Successfully defended my doctoral thesis, “Robot-assisted acoustic vortex tweezers“.

  • 22 November 2025 — Teng Li won the Presentation Award in the General Acoustics Competition 2024, organized by the Acoustical Society of America's North Carolina Chapter.

  • 22 June 2024 — Our new article “Airborne Acoustic Vortex End Effector-Based Contactless, Multi-Mode, Programmable Control of Object Surfing“ was published in Advanced Materials Technologies.

  • 24 May 2024 — Our new article “Robot-assisted chirality-tunable acoustic vortex tweezers for contactless, multifunctional, 4-DOF object manipulation“ was published in Science Advances.