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Ben Zion MY, Caba Y, Modin A, et al. Cooperation in a fluid swarm of fuel-free micro-swimmers. Nat Commun. 2022;13(1):184doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27870-9.
Ben Zion, M. Y., Caba, Y., Modin, A., & Chaikin, P. M. (2022). Cooperation in a fluid swarm of fuel-free micro-swimmers. Nature communications, 13(1), 184. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27870-9
Ben Zion, Matan Yah, et al. "Cooperation in a fluid swarm of fuel-free micro-swimmers." Nature communications vol. 13,1 (2022): 184. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27870-9
Ben Zion MY, Caba Y, Modin A, Chaikin PM. Cooperation in a fluid swarm of fuel-free micro-swimmers. Nat Commun. 2022 Jan 10;13(1):184. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27870-9. PMID: 35013335.
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Nat Commun. 2022 Jan 10;13(1):184. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27870-9.

Cooperation in a fluid swarm of fuel-free micro-swimmers.

Nature communications

Matan Yah Ben Zion, Yaelin Caba, Alvin Modin, Paul M Chaikin

Affiliations

  1. Center for Soft Matter Research, Department of Physics, New York University, 726 Broadway Avenue, New York, NY, 10003, USA. [email protected].
  2. UMR Gulliver 7083 CNRS, ESPCI Paris, PSL Research University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005, Paris, France. [email protected].
  3. Center for Soft Matter Research, Department of Physics, New York University, 726 Broadway Avenue, New York, NY, 10003, USA.

PMID: 35013335 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27870-9

Abstract

While motile bacteria display rich dynamics in dense colonies, the phoretic nature of artificial micro-swimmers restricts their activity when crowded. Here we introduce a new class of synthetic micro-swimmers that are driven solely by light. By coupling a light absorbing particle to a fluid droplet we produce a colloidal chimera that transforms optical power into propulsive thermo-capillary action. The swimmers' internal drive allows them to operate for a long duration (days) and remain active when crowded, forming a high density fluid phase. We find that above a critical concentration, swimmers form a long lived crowded state that displays internal dynamics. When passive particles are introduced, the dense swimmer phase can re-arrange to spontaneously corral the passive particles. We derive a geometrical, depletion-like condition for corralling by identifying the role the passive particles play in controlling the effective concentration of the micro-swimmers.

© 2022. The Author(s).

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