Related papers: Tractionless Self-Propulsion of Active Drops
We present an exactly solvable nonlinear model for the directed motion of an object due to zero-mean fluctuations on a uniform featureless surface. Directed motion results from the effect of dry (Coulombic) friction coupled to asymmetric…
We study the motion of oil drops propelled by actin polymerization in cell extracts. Drops deform and acquire a pear-like shape under the action of the elastic stresses exerted by the actin comet. We solve this free boundary problem and…
A liquid droplet, immersed into a Newtonian fluid, can be propelled solely by internal flow. In a simple model, this flow is generated by a collection of point forces, which represent externally actuated devices or model autonomous…
Motivated by recent simulations and by experiments on aggregation of gliding bacteria, we study a model of the collective dynamics of self-propelled hard rods on a substrate in two dimensions. The rods have finite size, interact via…
Understanding the dynamics of drops on polymer-coated surfaces is crucial for optimizing applications such as self-cleaning materials or microfluidic devices. While the static and dynamic properties of deposited drops have been well…
We consider a liquid droplet which is propelled solely by internal flow. In a simple model, this flow is generated by an autonomous actuator, which moves on a prescribed trajectory inside the droplet. In a biological system, the device…
We present systematic wetting experiments and numerical simulations of gravity driven liquid drops sliding on a plane substrate decorated with a linear chemical step. Surprisingly, the optimal direction to observe crossing is not the one…
We numerically study the effect of an active turbulent environment on a passive deformable droplet. The system is simulated using coupled hydrodynamic and nematodynamic equations for nematic liquid crystals with an active stress which is…
Hypothesis: Bacterial contamination of surfaces poses a major threat to public health. Designing effective antibacterial or self-cleaning surfaces requires understanding how bacteria-laden droplets interact with solid substrates and how…
We describe a new kind of self-propelling motion of bacteria based on the cooperative action of rotating flagella on the surface of bacteria. Describing the ensemble of rotating flagella in the framework of the hydrodynamics with spin the…
We study the impact and subsequent retraction dynamics of liquid droplets upon high-speed impact on hydrophobic surfaces. Performing extensive experiments, we show that the drop retraction rate is a material constant and does not depend on…
We consider a liquid drop placed on a smooth homogeneous solid substrate as it spreads from rest to its eventual equilibrium state. The problem is studied numerically in the framework of a model where the contact angle formed by the drop's…
We investigate theoretically the collective dynamics of soft active particles living in a viscous fluid. We focus on a minimal model for active but non-motile particles consisting of $N>1$ elastic dimers deformed by active stresses and…
Using extensive molecular dynamics simulation of a coarse-grained model, we demonstrate the possibility of sustained unidirectional motion (durotaxis) of droplets without external energy supply when placed on a polymer brush substrate with…
We consider the dynamics of active nematics droplets on flat surfaces, based on the continuum hydrodynamic theory. We investigate a wide range of dynamical regimes as a function of the activity and droplet size on surfaces characterized by…
This theoretical and numerical study focuses on the physical mechanisms driving the retraction of levitating Newtonian micrometric/millimetric/centimetric drops surrounded by air and under zero-gravity conditions. The drops present a…
Individual chemically active drops suspended in a surfactant solution were observed to self-propel spontaneously with straight, helical, or chaotic trajectories. To elucidate how these drops can exhibit such strikingly different dynamics…
A range of technologies require the directed motion of nanoscale droplets on solid substrates. A way of realizing this effect is durotaxis, whereby a stiffness gradient of a substrate can induce directional motion without requiring an…
In an effort to study the stability of contact lines in fluids, we consider the dynamics of a drop of incompressible viscous Stokes fluid evolving above a one-dimensional flat surface under the influence of gravity. This is a free boundary…
Active matter exhibits various forms of non-equilibrium states in the absence of external forcing, including macroscopic steady-state currents. Such states are often too complex to be modelled from first principles and our understanding of…