Related papers: Light-responsive active particles in a thermotropi…
Several recent experiments investigate the orientational and transport behavior of self-driven bacteria and colloidal particles in nematic liquid crystals. Correspondingly, we study theoretically the dynamics of a minimal model microswimmer…
For natural microswimmers, the interplay of swimming activity and external flow can promote robust motion, e.g. propulsion against ("upstream rheotaxis") or perpendicular to the direction of flow. These effects are generally attributed to…
Wearing comfort of apparel is highly dependent on moisture management and respective transport properties of the textiles. In today's used textiles, the water vapor transmission (WVT) depends primarily on the porosity and the wettability of…
Highly efficient and sustainable resources of energy are of great demand today to combat with environmental pollution and the energy crisis. In this work, we have examined the novel 2D Janus AsTeX (X = Cl, Br and I) monolayers using…
Microorganisms are able to overcome the thermal randomness of their surroundings by harvesting energy to navigate in viscous fluid environments. In a similar manner, synthetic colloidal microswimmers are capable of mimicking complex…
To elucidate mechanisms of mesoscopic turbulence exhibited by active particles, we experimentally study turbulent states of non-living self-propelled particles. We realize an experimental system with dense suspensions of asymmetrical…
Catalytically active Janus particles suspended in solution create gradients in the chemical composition of the solution along their surfaces, as well as along any nearby container walls. The former leads to self-phoresis, while the latter…
Chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) are lyotropic materials which are attracting growing interest for their adaptability to living systems. A considerable body of works has been devoted to exploring their properties and applications. In this…
Thanks to their unique properties, nematic liquid crystals feature a variety of mechanisms for light-matter interactions. For continuous-wave optical excitations, the two dominant contributions stem from reorientational and thermal…
Swimming bacteria in passive nematics in the form of lyotropic liquid crystals are defined as a new class of active matter known as living liquid crystals in recent studies. It has also been shown that liquid crystal solutions are promising…
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…
The unique physical and optical properties of nanoparticles make their reliable and rapid assembly an important goal for nanotechnology. To this end, many competing driving forces have been targeted to control the self-assembly, though…
We consider the dynamics of micro-sized, asymmetrically-coated thermoresponsive hydrogel ribbons (microgels) under periodic heating and cooling in the confined space between two planar surfaces. As the result of the temperature changes, the…
Shear-thinning viscosity is a non-Newtonian behaviour that active particles often encounter in biological fluids such as blood and mucus. The fundamental question of how this ubiquitous non-Newtonian rheology affects the propulsion of…
We report on a switchable emulsion droplet microswimmer by utilizing a temperature-dependent transition of the droplet phase. The droplets, made from a liquid crystalline (LC) smectic phase material ($T =$ 25 $^{\circ}$C), self-propel only…
One of the most promising applications in nanoscience is the design of new materials to improve water permeability and selectivity of nanoporous membranes. Understanding the molecular architecture behind these fascinating structures and how…
We report filling-fraction dependent dielectric spectroscopy measurements on the relaxation dynamics of the rod-like nematogen 7CB condensed in 13 nm silica nanochannels. In the film-condensed regime, a slow interface relaxation dominates…
Control of physical behaviors of nematic colloids and colloidal crystals has been demonstrated by tuning particle shape, topology, chirality and surface charging. However, the capability of altering physical behaviors of such soft matter…
Active systems comprising micron-sized self-propelling units, also termed microswimmers, are promising candidates for the bottom-up assembly of small structures and reconfigurable materials. Here we leverage field-driven colloidal assembly…
Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to study the translational and rotational diffusion of a single Janus particle immersed in a dense Lennard-Jones fluid. We consider a spherical particle with two hemispheres of different…