Confined Catalytic Janus Swimmers in a Crowded Channel: Geometry‐Driven Rectification Transients and Directional Locking

• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201602039
• Publication Date: 2016-09-15T05:52:45Z
• Authors: Hailing Yu; Andrii Kopach; Vyacheslav R. Misko; Anna A. Vasylenko; Denys Makarov; Fabio Marchesoni; Franco Nori; Larysa Baraban; Gianaurelio Cunib...
• Keywords: Janus Particles

Self-propelled Janus particles, acting as microscopic vehicles, have the potential to perform complex tasks on a scale, suitable, e.g., for environmental applications, on-chip chemical information processing, or in vivo drug delivery. Development of these smart nanodevices requires better understanding how synthetic swimmers move crowded and confined environments that mimic actual biosystems, network blood vessels. Here, dynamics self-propelled particles interacting with catalytically passive silica beads narrow channel is studied both experimentally through numerical simulations. Upon varying area density width channel, active transport reveals number intriguing properties, which range from distinct bulk boundary-free diffusivity at low densities, directional "locking" "unclogging" higher whereby swimmer capable transporting large clusters particles.