Self-solidifying active droplets showing memory-induced chirality
Abstract
Most synthetic microswimmers do not reach the autonomy of their biological counterparts in terms of energy supply and diversity of motion. Here we report the first all-aqueous droplet swimmer powered by self-generated polyelectrolyte gradients, which shows memory-induced chirality while self-solidifying. An aqueous solution of surface tension-lowering polyelectrolytes self-solidifies on the surface of acidic water, during which polyelectrolytes are gradually emitted into the surrounding water and induce linear self-propulsion via spontaneous symmetry breaking. The low diffusion coefficient of the polyelectrolytes leads to long-lived chemical trails which cause memory effects that drive a transition from linear to chiral motion without requiring any imposed symmetry breaking. The droplet swimmer is capable of highly efficient removal (up to 85%) of uranium from aqueous solutions within 90 min, benefiting from self-propulsion and flow-induced mixing. Our results provide a route to fueling self-propelled agents which can autonomously perform chiral motion and collect toxins.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2302.04195,
title = {Self-solidifying active droplets showing memory-induced chirality},
author = {Kai Feng and José Carlos Ureña Marcos and Aritra K. Mukhopadhyay and Ran Niu and Qiang Zhao and Jinping Qu and Benno Liebchen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.04195},
year = {2023}
}