Wobbling and Migrating Ferrofluid Droplets
Fluid Dynamics
2026-02-05 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
Active components incorporated in materials generate motion by inducing conformational changes in response to external fields. Magnetic fields are particularly interesting as they can actuate materials remotely. Millimeter-sized ferrofluid droplets placed on a solid surface, surrounded by an ambient gas phase, are shown here to migrate under a rotating magnetic field due to the periodic deformation of the liquid-gas interface. This interface wobbling leads to droplet migration with speeds that increase as the amplitude and frequency of the magnetic field increase. In addition to migrating in a controlled manner, we demonstrate the ability of magnetic droplets to clean surface impurities and transport cargo.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2406.08289,
title = {Wobbling and Migrating Ferrofluid Droplets},
author = {Aaveg Aggarwal and Shih-Yuan Chen and Eleftherios Kirkinis and Mohammed Imran Khan and Bei Fan and Michelle M Driscoll and Monica Olvera de la Cruz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.08289},
year = {2026}
}