Related papers: Light-responsive active particles in a thermotropi…
We develop a new model, to our knowledge, for the many-body hydrodynamics of amphiphilic Janus particles suspended in a viscous background flow. The Janus particles interact through a hydrophobic attraction potential that leads to…
We investigate the structure formation of amphiphilic molecules at planar walls using density functional theory. The molecules are modeled as (hard) spheres composed of a hydrophilic and hydrophobic part. The orientation of the resulting…
Microorganisms often encounter anisotropy, for example in mucus and biofilms. We study how anisotropy and elasticity of the ambient fluid affects the speed of a swimming microorganism with a prescribed stroke. Motivated by recent…
Self-organisation is driven by the interactions between the individual components of a system mediated by the environment, and is one of the most important strategies used by many biological systems to develop complex and functional…
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…
Nanoporous media exhibit structures significantly smaller than the wavelengths of visible light and can thus act as photonic metamaterials. Their optical functionality is not determined by the properties of the base materials, but rather by…
Active particles locally transduce energy into motion, leading to unusual and emergent behaviors. However, current synthetic particles lack sensing and adaptation mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate a novel regulation pathway, through the…
Living microorganisms in confined systems typically experience an affinity to populate boundaries. The reason for such affinity to interfaces can be a combination of their directed motion and hydrodynamic interactions at distances larger…
Active matter classifies systems consisting of self-propelled units which convert the energy stored locally or extracted from their environment into directed motion. It has recently attracted considerable attention due to rich new physics…
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…
We describe colloidal Janus particles with metallic and dielectric faces that swim vigorously when illuminated by defocused optical tweezers without consuming any chemical fuel. Rather than wandering randomly, these optically-activated…
The ability to manipulate polar entities with multiple external fields opens exciting possibilities for emerging functionalities and novel applications in spin systems, photonics, metamaterials, and soft matter. Liquid crystals (LCs),…
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…
A realistic description of active particles should include interactions with the medium, commonly a momentum-conserving simple fluid, in which they are suspended. In this work, we consider a multi-species suspension of self-diffusiophoretic…
Janus phoretic colloids (JPs) self-propel as a result of self-generated chemical gradients and exhibit spontaneous nontrivial dynamics within phoretic suspensions, on length scales much larger than the microscopic swimmer size. Such…
Conspectus: The ability to navigate in chemical gradients, called chemotaxis, is crucial for the survival of microorganisms. It allows them to find food and to escape from toxins. Many microorganisms can produce the chemicals to which they…
Confinement has been suggested as a tool to tune the self-assembly properties of nanoparticles, surfactants, polymers and colloids. In this way, we explore the phase diagram of Janus nanoparticles using Molecular Dynamics simulations. The…
Discotic ionic liquid crystals (DILCs) consist of self-assembled superdiscs of cations and anions that spontaneously stack in linear columns with high one-dimensional ionic and electronic charge mobility, making them prominent model systems…
Self-phoretic Janus particles move by inducing -- via non-equilibrium chemical reactions occurring on their surfaces -- changes in the chemical composition of the solution in which they are immersed. This process leads to gradients in…
Active colloidal systems have emerged as promising contenders for the future of microdevices. While conventional designs have extensively exploited the use of hard colloids, the advancement of cell-inspired architectures represents a…