Related papers: Active diffusion of self-propelled particles in fl…
Based on a coarse-grained model, we carry out molecular dynamics simulations to analyze the diffusion of a small tracer particle inside a cylindrical channel whose inner wall is covered with randomly grafted short polymeric chains. We…
Particle sedimentation through porous media is limited by the inability of passive material to overcome surface interactions and a tortuous network of pores. This limits transport, delivery, and effectiveness of chemicals used as reactants,…
Semi-flexible polymers in crowded environments exhibit complex dynamics that play a crucial role in various biological and material design processes. Based on the classic reptation theory, it is generally believed that semiflexible polymers…
We analyze the conformational dynamics and statistical properties of an active polymer model. The polymer is described as a freely-jointed bead-rod chain subject to stochastic active force dipoles that act on the suspending solvent where…
Using granular experiments and computer simulations, we investigate the long-time diffusion of active tracers in a broad class of complex media composed of frozen obstacles of diverse structures. By introducing a dimensionless persistence…
Single-file diffusion refers to the Brownian motion in narrow channels where particles cannot pass each other. In such processes, the diffusion of a tagged particle is typically normal at short times and becomes subdiffusive at long times.…
The movement of motor particles consisting of one or several molecular motors bound to a cargo particle is studied theoretically. The particles move on patterns of immobilized filaments. Several patterns are described for which the motor…
We study the diffusion of gas molecules through a two-dimensional network of polymers with the help of Monte Carlo simulations. The polymers are modeled as non-interacting random walks on the bonds of a two-dimensional square lattice, while…
The mechanical properties of the cell depend crucially on the tension of its cytoskeleton, a biopolymer network that is put under stress by active motor proteins. While the fibrous nature of the network is known to strongly affect the…
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.…
We study the dynamics of micron-sized particles on a layer of motile cells. This cell carpet acts as an active bath that propels passive tracer particles via direct mechanical contact. The resulting nonequilibrium transport shows a…
A plethora of natural and industrial shear-driven granular flows exhibit particle-size segregation. Its occurrence is commonly attributed to two primary mechanisms: kinetic sieving and squeeze expulsion. While kinetic sieving is relatively…
We study a two-dimensional diffusive motion of a tracer particle in restricted, crowded anisotropic geometries. The underlying medium is the same as in our previous work [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 044706 (2014)] in which standard, gaussian…
If an active Janus particle is trapped at the interface between a liquid and a fluid, its self-propelled motion along the interface is affected by a net torque on the particle due to the viscosity contrast between the two adjacent fluid…
Micron-sized particles moving through solution in response to self-generated chemical gradients serve as model systems for studying active matter. Their far-reaching potential applications will require the particles to sense and respond to…
Single-molecule fluorescence imaging of adsorption onto initially-bare surfaces shows that polymer chains need not localize immediately after arrival. In a system optimized to present limited adsorption sites (quartz surface to which…
We present dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements of soft polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and polyacrylamide(PA) polymer gels prepared with trapped bodies (latex spheres or maghemite nanoparticles). We show that the anomalous…
We investigate the transport diffusivity of artificial microswimmers, a.k.a. Janus particles, moving in a sinusoidal channel in the absence of external biases. Their diffusion constant turns out to be quite sensitive to the self-propulsion…
The mechanical properties of polymer gels based on cytoskeleton proteins (e.g. actin) have been studied extensively due to their significant role in biological cell motility and in maintaining the cell's structural integrity. Microrheology…
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…