Self-motile colloidal particles: from directed propulsion to random walk
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-13 v1 Statistical Mechanics
Abstract
The motion of an artificial micro-scale swimmer that uses a chemical reaction catalyzed on its own surface to achieve autonomous propulsion is fully characterized experimentally. It is shown that at short times, it has a substantial component of directed motion, with a velocity that depends on the concentration of fuel molecules. At longer times, the motion reverts to a random walk with a substantially enhanced diffusion coefficient. Our results suggest strategies for designing artificial chemotactic systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0706.4406,
title = {Self-motile colloidal particles: from directed propulsion to random walk},
author = {Jonathan R. Howse and Richard A. L. Jones and Anthony J. Ryan and Tim Gough and Reza Vafabakhsh and Ramin Golestanian},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0706.4406},
year = {2009}
}