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Autonomous diffusiophoretic micro-swimmers

By: Mykola Tasinkevych
From: Univ. Stuttgart
At: Complexo Interdisciplinar, Anfiteatro
[2010-05-19] 11:30

We study the self-phoretic motion of a spheroidal particle theoretically. The particle generates solute gradients in the surrounding solvent via catalytic chemical reactions active on its surface in a cap-like region centered at one of the poles of the particle. We derive, within the constraints of the mapping to classical diffusio-phoresis, an analytical expression for the phoretic velocity of such an object. This allows us to analyze in detail the dependence of the phoretic velocity on the aspect ratio of the polar and the equatorial diameters of the particle and on the fraction of the particle surface contributing to the chemical reaction.