Reconfigurable structure and tunable transport in synchronized active spinner materials
Open Access
- 1 March 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science Advances
- Vol. 6 (12), eaaz8535
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz8535
Abstract
Ensembles of actuated colloids are excellent model systems to explore emergent out-of-equilibrium structures, complex collective dynamics, and design rules for the next generation materials. Here, we demonstrate that ferromagnetic microparticles suspended at an air-water interface and energized by an external rotating magnetic field spontaneously form dynamic ensembles of synchronized spinners in a certain range of the excitation field parameters. Each spinner generates strong hydrodynamic flows, and collective interactions of the multiple spinners promote a formation of dynamic lattices. On the basis of experiments and simulations, we reveal structural transitions from liquid to nearly crystalline states in this novel active spinner material and demonstrate that dynamic spinner lattices are reconfigurable, capable of self-healing behavior and that the transport of embedded inert cargo particles can be remotely tuned by the parameters of the external excitation field. Our findings provide insights into the behavior of active spinner materials with reconfigurable structural order and tunable functionalities.Funding Information
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
- Meso-scale turbulence in living fluidsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012
- Magnetic manipulation of self-assembled colloidal astersNature Materials, 2011
- Flow generation by rotating colloids in planar microchannelsEurophysics Letters, 2010
- Melting of 2D liquid crystal colloidal structureCondensed Matter Physics, 2010
- Hydrodynamic regimes of active rotators at fluid interfacesThe European Physical Journal E, 2008
- Transient behaviour of magnetic micro-bead chains rotating in a fluid by external fieldsLab on a Chip, 2007
- Particle-based mesoscale hydrodynamic techniquesEurophysics Letters, 2006
- Surface Wave Assisted Self-Assembly of Multidomain Magnetic StructuresPhysical Review Letters, 2006
- Self-Assembly at All ScalesScience, 2002
- Methods of Digital Video Microscopy for Colloidal StudiesJournal of Colloid and Interface Science, 1996