Related papers: Diffusiophoretic design of self-spinning microgear…
Hydrodynamic interactions driven by particle activity are ubiquitous in active colloidal systems. Although these interactions are strongly influenced by the interfacial actuation mechanism and geometry of the swimming particles, theoretical…
Hybrid mesoscale-structures that can combine dielectric optical resonances with plasmon-polaritons are of interest in chip-scale nano-optical communication and sensing. This experimental study shows how a fluorescent microsphere coupled to…
Physics governing the locomotion of microorganisms and other microsystems is dominated by viscous damping. An effective swimming strategy involves the non-reciprocal and periodic deformations of the considered body. Here, we show that a…
Building structures with hierarchical order through the self-assembly of smaller blocks is not only a prerogative of nature, but also a strategy to design artificial materials with tailored functions. We explore in simulation the…
Phoretic colloids self-propel thanks to surface flows generated in response to surface gradients (thermal, electrical, or chemical), that are self-induced and/or generated by other particles. Here we present a scalable and versatile…
Light-activated self-propelled colloids are synthesized and their active motion is studied using optical microscopy. We propose a versatile route using different photoactive materials, and demonstrate a multiwavelength activation and…
Active colloids self-organise to a variety of collective states, ranging from highly motile 'molecules' to complex 3D structures. Using large-scale simulations, we show that hydrodynamic interactions, together with a gravity-like aligning…
We consider sedimented at a solid wall particles that are immersed in water containing small additives of photosensitive ionic surfactants. It is shown that illumination with an appropriate wavelength, a beam intensity profile, shape and…
Symmetry breaking is essential for biological microswimmers to achieve locomotion in viscous environments. Such asymmetry in the swimming mechanism enables the generation of directional forces that overcome fluid resistance, leading to…
Active emulsions can spontaneously form self-propelled droplets or phoretic micropumps. It has been predicted that the interaction with their self-generated chemical fields can lead to multistable higher-order flows and chemodynamic…
We report on a comprehensive theory-simulation-experimental study of collective and self-diffusion in suspensions of charge-stabilized colloidal spheres. In simulation and theory, the spheres interact by a hard-core plus screened Coulomb…
Self-diffusiophoretic particles exploit local concentration gradients of a solute species in order to self-propel at the micron scale. While an isolated chemically- and geometrically-isotropic particle cannot swim, we show that it can…
Active colloids, also known as artificial microswimmers, are self-propelled micro and nanoparticles that convert uniform sources of fuel (e.g. chemical) or uniform external driving fields (e.g. magnetic or electric) into directed motion by…
Predicting and controlling the transport of colloids in porous media is essential for applications ranging from contaminant remediation to drug delivery. In these complex environments, solute gradients are ubiquitous and could drive…
Molecular dimers are widely utilized as a tool to investigate the structure-property relationships behind the complex photophysical processes of condensed-phase systems, where structural tuning remains a challenge. This approach often…
The separation of colloidal particles from fluids is essential to ensure a safe global supply of drinking water, yet in the case of microscopic particles, it remains a highly energy-intensive process when using traditional filtration…
We use holography to derive effective theories of fluctuations in spontaneously broken phases of systems with finite temperature, chemical potential, magnetic field and momentum relaxation in which the order parameters break translations.…
A colloidal particle placed in an inhomogeneous solution of smaller non-adsorbing polymers will move towards regions of lower polymer concentration, in order to reduce the free energy of the interface between the surface of the particle and…
Over the past decade, autophoretic colloids have emerged as a prototypical system for studying self-propelled motion at microscopic scales, with promising applications in microfluidics, micromachinery, and therapeutics. Their motion in a…
Micron-size self-propelling particles are often proposed as synthetic models for biological microswimmers, yet they lack internally regulated adaptation, which is central to the autonomy of their biological counterparts. Conversely,…