2015 AIChE Annual Meeting Proceedings

(262h) Controlling Compartmentalization through Active Colloidal Confinement

Authors

Matthew Spellings - Presenter, University of Michigan
Michael Engel - Presenter, University of Michigan
Daphne Klotsa - Presenter, University of Cambridge
Syeda Sabrina - Presenter, Penn State University
Nguyen Nguyen - Presenter, University of Michigan
Kyle J. M. Bishop - Presenter, Columbia University
Sharon C. Glotzer - Presenter, University of Michigan

Active matter is an exciting area of study that displays promising new
behaviors previously unobtainable in equilibrium systems and could
help bridge the gap between equilibrium colloidal- and nanoscale-
particles and living cells. In this talk, we present new results of
novel behaviors that can be observed in confined "cells" of
rotationally-driven particles with and without active boundaries. We
observe different classes of compartmentalization, which are
controllable and can be switched over time. Our results are obtained
using microscopic, non-momentum-conserving Langevin dynamics
simulations and confirmed via a phase field continuum model coupled to
a Navier-Stokes equation that we derive to incorporate hydrodynamic
effects. Our findings provide motivation and design rules for the
fabrication of primitive colloidal machines.