Dresden 2020 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 54: Active Matter III (joint session DY/BP/CPP)
CPP 54.3: Talk
Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 14:30–14:45, ZEU 160
Rheotaxis of active drops in confinements — •Ranabir Dey1, Carola M. Buness1,2, Chenyu Jin1, and Corinna C. Maass1,2 — 1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Fassberg 17, 37077 Goettingen — 2Institute for the Dynamics of Complex Systems, Georg August Universitaet Goettingen
Biological microswimmers commonly navigate confinements having liquid flows, e.g. locomotions of spermatozoa through the reproductive tract and bacteria in the gut or in blood vessels. The directed motion of the microorganisms in response to the gradients in external flow velocity is classically called ‘rheotaxis’. Recently, rigorous efforts have been made to understand the rheotaxis of microorganims, specifically bacteria. In contrast, there is very little quantitative understanding of rheotaxis of artificial microswimmers. It must be noted that artificial microswimmers, e.g. those designed for drug delivery, are often required to navigate confinements having external flows. Here, we elucidate the swimming dynamics of a common type of artificial microswimmer, i.e. active drops, in micro-confinements having Poiseuille flow. We experimentally quantify the rheotaxis of these droplet microswimmers, intrinsically undergoing Marangoni stress dominated ‘self-propulsion’, in response to velocity gradients of varying strength. We try to understand the observed rheotaxis of the active drops in confinements in the context of a hydrodynamic model– the active Jeffery-Bretherton model. We strongly feel that detailed understanding of artificial active matter rheotaxis will make significant contributions towards better design optimization for practical applications.