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Authors
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Merlitz, H. ; Wu, C.-X. ; Sommer, J.-U.
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Title
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Directional transport of colloids inside a bath of self-propelling walkers
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Date
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30.06.2017
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Number
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53327
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Abstract
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We present a setup in which passive colloids inside a solvent are moved to the boundaries of the container. The directional transport is facilitated by self-propelling microparticles (“walkers”) with an activity gradient, which reduces their propulsion in the vicinity of bounding walls. An attractive interaction leads to the adsorption of walkers onto the colloid-surfaces in regions of low walker activity. It is shown that the activity gradient generates a free energy gradient which in turn acts as a driving force on the passive colloids. We carry out molecular dynamics simulations and present approaches to a theoretical description of the involved processes. Although the simulation data are not reproduced on a fully quantitative level, their qualitative features are covered by the model. The effect described here may be applied to facilitate a directional transport of drugs or to eliminate pollutants.
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Publisher
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Soft Matter
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Wikidata
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Citation
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Soft Matter 13 (2017) 3726-3733
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DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1039/C7SM00613F
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Tags
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