Das, S., Garg, A., Campbell, A.I. et al. (5 more authors) (2015) Boundaries can steer active Janus spheres. Nature Communications, 6. 8999. ISSN 2041-1723
Abstract
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | Physical sciences; Materials science; Physical chemistry; Fluids and plasma physics |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/J002402/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 Apr 2016 10:13 |
Last Modified: | 18 Nov 2016 17:10 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9999 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/ncomms9999 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:97866 |
Download
Filename: Boundaries can steer active Janus spheres.pdf
Licence: CC-BY 4.0