Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 67: Poster: Active Matter, Microswimmers

DY 67.4: Poster

Thursday, March 15, 2018, 15:30–18:00, Poster A

Dynamics of a nematic microswimmer in aqueous surfactant solution — •Shubhadeep Mandal and Marco G. Mazza — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany

The study of self-propelled motion of microswimmers in fluidic environments is of paramount importance to understand modern day applications, such as targeted drug delivery and lab-on-a-chip technologies. In this study, we investigate the dynamics of an artificial microswimmer consisting of nematic liquid-crystal droplet in a surfactant solution. Recent experiments have shown that a nematic droplet suspended in an aqueous surfactant solution not only self-propels, but also exhibits curling or helical motion depending on the physical dimensionality. We perform numerical simulations using stochastic rotational dynamics (SRD) to study the interaction between the nematic swimmer and the surfactant solution. An outstanding question regarding the dynamics of self-propel motion of nematic microswimmers that we address here is the coupling of Marangoni flow and nematic director field. Our first goal is to understand the importance of miceller and molecular solubilization towards the genesis of the self-propelled motion of nematic swimmers. The second objective of the present study is to investigate the symmetry breaking phenomenon towards the curling or helical motion of nematic swimmers.