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Experimental realizations of self-propelled colloidal Janus particles exploit the conversion of free energy into directed motion. One route are phoretic mechanisms that can be modeled schematically as the interconversion of two chemical…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2019-09-04 Thomas Speck

We study self-propulsion of a half-metal coated colloidal particle under laser irradiation. The motion is caused by self-thermophoresis: i.e. absorption of laser at the metal-coated side of the particle creates local temperature gradient…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-05-20 Hong-Ren Jiang , Natsuhiko Yoshinaga , Masaki Sano

We experimentally investigate active motion of spherical Janus colloidal particles in a viscoelastic fluid. Self-propulsion is achieved by a local concentration gradient of a critical polymer mixture which is imposed by laser illumination.…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2016-03-31 Juan Ruben Gomez-Solano , Alex Blokhuis , Clemens Bechinger

Janus phoretic particles exploit chemical energy stored in their environment to self-propel. These active particles modify and respond to their hydrodynamic and chemical environments, thus giving them a sensibility to external flows and…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-05-15 Prathmesh Vinze , Sebastien Michelin

In systems possessing spatial or dynamical symmetry breaking, Brownian motion combined with symmetric external input signals, deterministic or random, alike, can assist directed motion of particles at the submicron scales. In such cases,…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-06-05 Peter Hanggi , Fabio Marchesoni

Colloidal spheres with a partial platinum surface coating perform auto-phoretic motion when suspended in hydrogen peroxide solution. We present a theoretical analysis of the self-propulsion velocity of these particles using a continuum…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-02-12 Joost de Graaf , Georg Rempfer , Christian Holm

We study the diffusiophoretic self-propulsion of a colloidal catalytic particle due to a surface chemical reaction in a vicinity of a solid wall. Diffusiophoresis is a chemico-mechanical transduction mechanism in which a concentration…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2016-06-22 Ali Mozaffari , Nima Sharifi-Mood , Joel Koplik , Charles Maldarelli

In addition to self-propulsion by phoretic mechanisms that arises from an asymmetric distribution of reactive species around a catalytic motor, spherical particles with a uniform distribution of catalytic activity may also propel themselves…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2014-01-08 Pierre de Buyl , Alexander S. Mikhailov , Raymond Kapral

Micron-sized self-propelled (active) particles can be considered as model systems for characterizing more complex biological organisms like swimming bacteria or motile cells. We produce asymmetric microswimmers by soft lithography and study…

The dynamics of self-propelled colloidal particles are strongly influenced by their environment through hydrodynamic and, in many cases, chemical interactions. We develop a theoretical framework to describe the motion of confined active…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2025-08-29 Günther Turk , Rajesh Singh , Howard A. Stone

Microengines have shown promise for a variety of applications in nanotechnology, microfluidics and nanomedicine, including targeted drug delivery, microscale pumping, and environmental remediation. However, achieving precise control over…

Spherical Janus particles are one of the most prominent examples for active Brownian objects. Here, we study the diffusiophoretic motion of such microswimmers in experiment and in theory. Three stages are found: simple Brownian motion at…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2013-10-08 Xu Zheng , Borge ten Hagen , Andreas Kaiser , Meiling Wu , Haihang Cui , Zhanhua Silber-Li , Hartmut Löwen

We study a model of synthetic molecular motor - a [3]-catenane consisting of two small macrocycles mechanically interlocked with a bigger one - subjected to a time-dependent driving using stochastic thermodynamics. The model presents…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-06-28 Massimo Bilancioni , Massimiliano Esposito , Emanuele Penocchio

We study microscopic engines that use a single active particle as their "working medium". Part of the energy required to drive the directed motion of the particle can be recovered as work, even at constant temperature. A wide class of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-01-20 Thomas Speck

Microparticles migrate in response to gradients in solute concentration through diffusiophoresis and diffusioosmosis. Merging streams of fluid with distinct solute concentrations is a common strategy for producing a steady concentration…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2023-06-01 Robben E. Migacz , Guillaume Durey , Jesse T. Ault

Using large scale molecular dynamics simulations we study the orientational dynamics of a heated Janus particle which exhibits self-propulsion. The asymmetry in the microscopic interaction of the colloid with the solvent is implemented by…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2018-11-14 Dipanjan Chakraborty

Self-propulsion of particles is typically explained by phoretic mechanisms driven by externally imposed chemical, electric, or thermal gradients. In contrast, chemical reactions can enhance particle diffusion even in the absence of such…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-10-08 A. Arango-Restrepo , J. M. Rubi

We theoretically study the active motion of self-diffusiophoretic Janus particles (JPs) using the Onsager-Casimir reciprocal relations. The linear and angular velocity of a single JP are shown to respectively result from a coupling of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2019-10-30 Jérôme Burelbach , Holger Stark

Brownian motors and Feymann ratchets have been intensively studied in the past decades due to their significance to the foundation of statistical physics. In this work we propose a new type of Brownian motor, i.e., a self-driven motor that…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2020-01-29 Hanqing Zhao

Suspended colloidal particles interacting chemically with a solute are able to self-propel by autophoretic motion when they are asymmetrically patterned (Janus colloids). Here we demonstrate that the chemical anisotropy is not a necessary…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2013-06-28 Sebastien Michelin , Eric Lauga , Denis Bartolo