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Living systems routinely consume energy to achieve motility, often using intricate biomolecular machinery. In this work, we show that active droplets can sustain indefinite self-propulsion of a spherical colloid in an otherwise homogeneous,…
Colloids and proteins alike can bind to lipid bilayers and move laterally in these two-dimensional fluids. Inspired by proteins that generate membrane curvature, sense the underlying membrane geometry, and migrate to high curvature sites,…
We create controllable active particles in the form of metal-dielectric Janus colloids which acquire motility through a nematic liquid crystal film by transducing the energy of an imposed perpendicular AC electric field. We achieve complete…
Active colloidal systems with non-equilibrium self-organization is a long-standing, challenging area in biology. To understand how hydrodynamic flow may be used to actively control self-assembly of Janus particles (JPs), we use a model…
Chemically active Janus particles generate tangential concentration gradients along their surface for self-propulsion. Although this is well studied in unbounded domains, the analysis in biologically relevant environments such as…
A single light-driven Janus particle confined in a very thin oil droplet at an air--water interface displays intriguing dynamics. While laser activation induces rapid horizontal motion (1mm/s--1cm/s) by thermal Marangoni flow, the particle…
The transport of bio-particles in viscous flows exhibits a rich variety of dynamical behaviour, such as morphological transitions, complex orientation dynamics or deformations. Characterising such complex behaviour under well controlled…
Integration of active matter in larger micro-devices can provide an embedded source of propulsion and lead to self-actuated micromachining systems that do not rely on any external power or control apparatus. Here we demonstrate that Janus…
The underlying mechanisms and physics of catalytic Janus microswimmers is highly complex, requiring details of the associated phoretic fields and the physiochemical properties of catalyst, particle, boundaries, and the fuel used. Therefore,…
Understanding how colloids move in crowded environments is key for gaining control over their transport in applications such as drug delivery, filtration, contaminant/microplastic remediation and agriculture. The classical models of colloid…
We theoretically study the self-propulsion of a thin (slender) colloid driven by asymmetric chemical reactions on its surface at vanishing Reynolds number. Using the method of matched asymptotic expansions, we obtain the colloid…
The self-propulsion mechanism of active colloidal particles often generates not only translational but also rotational motion. For particles with an anisotropic mass density under gravity, the motion is usually influenced by a downwards…
Janus particles self-propel by generating local tangential concentration gradients along their surface. These gradients are present in a thin layer whose thickness is small compared to the particle size. Chemical asymmetry along the surface…
The ability to control the movement and assembly of particles in liquid crystals is not only an important route to design functional materials, but also sheds light on the mechanisms of colloidal interactions. In this study we place…
The quest for designing new self-propelled colloids is fuelled by the demand for simple experimental models to study the collective behaviour of their more complex natural counterparts. Most synthetic self-propelled particles move by…
The electromagnetic field scattered by nano-objects contains a broad range of wave vectors and can be efficiently coupled to waveguided modes. The dominant contribution to scattering from subwavelength dielectric and plasmonic nanoparticles…
Chemically powered self-propelled colloids generate a motor force by converting locally a source of energy into directed motion, a process that has been explored both in experiments and in computational models. The use of active colloids as…
The directed motion of active colloids is governed by spatial variations in surface chemistry and interfacial stress, yet these properties remain extremely difficult to measure directly. We introduce a physics-informed neural network…
Active colloids and self-propelled particles moving through microstructured fluids can display different behavior compared to what is observed in simple fluids. As they are driven out of equilibrium in complex fluids they can experience…
The acoustofluidic method holds great promise for manipulating microorganisms. When exposed to the steady vortex structures of acoustic streaming flow, these microorganisms exhibit intriguing dynamic behaviors, such as hydrodynamic trapping…