Boundaries can steer active Janus spheres
| Autor: | Jonathan R. Howse, Sambeeta Das, Ramin Golestanian, Ayusman Sen, Andrew I. Campbell, Darrell Velegol, Astha Garg, Stephen J. Ebbens |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Multidisciplinary Solid surface General Physics and Astronomy Nanotechnology Context (language use) 02 engineering and technology General Chemistry 010402 general chemistry 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Rotation 01 natural sciences Article General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology 0104 chemical sciences Classical mechanics Particle SPHERES Janus 0210 nano-technology Brownian motion |
| Zdroj: | ResearcherID Nature Communications |
| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms9999 |
| Popis: | The advent of autonomous self-propulsion has instigated research towards making colloidal machines that can deliver mechanical work in the form of transport, and other functions such as sensing and cleaning. While much progress has been made in the last 10 years on various mechanisms to generate self-propulsion, the ability to steer self-propelled colloidal devices has so far been much more limited. A critical barrier in increasing the impact of such motors is in directing their motion against the Brownian rotation, which randomizes particle orientations. In this context, here we report directed motion of a specific class of catalytic motors when moving in close proximity to solid surfaces. This is achieved through active quenching of their Brownian rotation by constraining it in a rotational well, caused not by equilibrium, but by hydrodynamic effects. We demonstrate how combining these geometric constraints can be utilized to steer these active colloids along arbitrary trajectories. Self-propelled colloidal particles can be potentially used to transport cargoes at the microscale, but it is challenging to prevent randomization of their motion by Brownian rotations. Here, Das et al. quench these rotations by solid walls, which guide in-plane swimming without the need for external fields. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|