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Dynamics of small particles, both living such as swimming bacteria and inanimate, such as colloidal spheres, has fascinated scientists for centuries. If one could learn how to control and streamline their chaotic motion, that would open…
Liquid crystals are synthetic and biological viscoelastic anisotropic soft matter materials that combine liquid fluidity with crystal anisotropy and find use in optical devices, sensor/actuators, lubrication, super-fibers. Frequently…
We describe electrophoresis of spherical dielectric particles in a uniformly aligned nematic medium with a negative dielectric anisotropy. A spherical particle that orients the liquid crystal (LC) perpendicularly to its surface moves under…
In living cells, molecular motors create activity that enhances the diffusion of particles throughout the cytoplasm, and not just ones attached to the motors. We demonstrate initial steps toward creating artificial cells that mimic this…
We investigate experimentally the single-particle motion in water of silica colloidal beads half-coated with carbon under the action of a converging laser beam. The beads are self-propelled in this medium by means of self-thermophoresis…
A gold-capped Janus particle suspended in a near-critical binary liquid mixture can self-propel under illumination. We have immobilized such a particle in a narrow channel and studied the nonequilibrium dynamics of a binary solvent around…
Janus phoretic particles exploit chemical energy stored in their environment to self-propel. These active particles modify and respond to their hydrodynamic and chemical environments, thus giving them a sensibility to external flows and…
An amalgamate of nematic liquid crystals and active matter, referred to as living liquid crystals, is a promising self-healing material with futuristic applications for targeted delivery of information and micro-cargo. We provide a…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations to understand the translational and rotational diffusion of Janus nanoparticles at the interface between two immiscible fluids. Considering spherical particles with different affinity to fluid…
Due to the combined effect of anisotropic interactions and activity, Janus swimmers are capable to self-assemble in a wide variety of structures, many more than their equilibrium counterpart. This might lead to the development of novel…
When a nematic liquid crystal (LC) is confined on a self-closing spherical shell, topological constraints arise with intriguing consequences that depend critically on how the LC is aligned in the shell. We demonstrate reversible dynamic…
Self-assembly of nanoparticles at fluid-fluid interfaces is a promising route to fabricate functional materials from the bottom-up. However, directing and controlling particles into highly tunable and predictable structures -- while…
Most available theoretical predictions for the self-diffusiophoretic motion of colloidal particles are based on the hydrodynamic thin boundary layer approximation in combination with a solvent body force due to a self-generated local solute…
Engineering synthetic materials that mimic the remarkable complexity of living organisms is a fundamental challenge in science and technology. We study the spatiotemporal patterns that emerge when an active nematicfilm of microtubules and…
Janus --or two-sided, charged membranes offer promise as ionic current rectifiers. In such systems, pores consisting of two regions of opposite charge can be used to generate a current from a gradient in salinity. The efficiency of…
Emerging technologies based on liquid crystal (LC) materials increasingly leverage the presence of nanoscale defects, unlike the canonical application of LCs -- LC displays. The inherent nanoscale characteristics of LC defects present both…
We study the self-diffusiophoresis of a spherical chemically active particle near a planar, impermeable wall, with a focus on the influence of particle orientation on propulsion. We analyze a Janus particle with asymmetric surface chemical…
Nanoconfined liquid crystals (LCs) and their nanocomposites are driving the next generation of photonic applications. Consequently, deepening our understanding of mesophase stability, defect topology, and the dynamic response of LCs at the…
Very small synthetic motors that make use of chemical reactions to propel themselves in solution hold promise for new applications in the development of new materials, science and medicine. The prospect of such potential applications, along…
Optomechanical manipulation of nanoparticles enabling ultimate control over their 3D motion is nowadays one of the most highly demanded links between optics, biology, medicine, microfluidics, etc., paving the way for a plethora of emerging…