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Dynamics of a surface tension driven colloidal motor based on an active Janus particle encapsulated in a liquid drop

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2023

Subramaniam Chembai Ganesh
Affiliation:
Benjamin Levich Institute and Department of Chemical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
Joel Koplik
Affiliation:
Benjamin Levich Institute and Department of Physics, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
Jeffrey F. Morris
Affiliation:
Benjamin Levich Institute and Department of Chemical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
Charles Maldarelli*
Affiliation:
Benjamin Levich Institute and Department of Chemical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: cmaldarelli@ccny.cuny.edu

Abstract

A colloidal motor driven by surface tension forces is theoretically designed by encapsulating an active Janus particle in a liquid drop which is immiscible in the suspending medium. The Janus particle produces an asymmetric flux of a solute species which induces surface tension gradients along the liquid–liquid interface between the drop and the surrounding fluid. The resulting Marangoni forces at the interface propel the compound drop/Janus particle system. The propulsion speeds of the motor are evaluated for a range of relative sizes and positions of the drop and the particle and across a range of transport properties of the drop and the suspending medium. It is demonstrated that the proposed design can produce higher propulsion velocities than the traditional Janus-particle-based colloidal motors propelled by neutral diffusiophoresis.

Information

Type
JFM Papers
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Figure 1. Illustration of the compound drop/Janus motor generating a flux of a surface-active species.

Figure 1

Figure 2. Spherical basis for concentric configuration depicting the active cap facing the ${{\hat {e}}_{z}}$ direction.

Figure 2

Figure 3. Bispherical basis for eccentric configuration(s) when the position vector of the particle relative to the drop centre is along (a) ${{\hat {\boldsymbol {e}}_{z}}}$ (case 1) or along (b) $-{{\hat {\boldsymbol {e}}_{z}}}$ (case 2).

Figure 3

Figure 4. (a) Plot of the (dimensionless) velocities of the a(i) drop and the a(ii) Janus particle as a function of the thickness for different cap angles $( \alpha ={{\rm \pi} }/{3},{{\rm \pi} }/{2},{2{\rm \pi} }/{3} )$ keeping $( k=D=\mu =1 )$; (b) heat map of the solute concentration for cap angles $( \alpha ={{\rm \pi} }/{2}\pm {{\rm \pi} }/{6} )$ keeping $( k=D=\mu =1 )$ and $( \tau =1 )$.

Figure 4

Figure 5. Dimensionless velocities of the (a–c) drop and the (d–f) Janus particle for different cap angles $( \alpha ={{\rm \pi} }/{3},{{\rm \pi} }/{2},{2{\rm \pi} }/{3})$ keeping $( k=D=\mu =1 )$.

Figure 5

Figure 6. (a) Illustration of the opposing directions of the excess surface concentration gradient generated due to the location maximum in the surface excess being off the line of centres of the drop and the Janus particle $( \theta =0 )$ for positions of the Janus particle $\lambda \in ( -1,0 )$; (b) illustration of a stationary position where the drop and the Janus particle (dimensionless) velocities are equal for $( \tau =1,\alpha ={2{\rm \pi} }/{3})$ keeping $( k=D=\mu =1 )$; (c) surface excess concentration distribution for the configuration in panel (b) for the interpolated stationary position of $\lambda = -0.48$ (from inset) with ${\varGamma _0} = {k_2}J{R_1}/{D_1}$ ($\theta$ is defined anticlockwise about the drop centre from the $z$ axis as shown in panel (a)).

Figure 6

Figure 7. Validation of the lubrication analysis: comparison of the (dimensionless) velocities from the lubrication solution (4.2) with the bispherical solutions for different cap angles $( \alpha ={{\rm \pi} }/{3}, {{\rm \pi} }/{2}, {2{\rm \pi} }/{3})$ keeping $( k=D=\mu =1 )$ and $( \tau =0.01 )$.

Figure 7

Figure 8. Leading-order (dimensionless) velocities of both drop and Janus particle in the lubrication limit $( \tau =0.01 )$ for different cap angles $( \alpha ={{\rm \pi} }/{6}, {{\rm \pi} }/{4}, {{\rm \pi} }/{3}, {{\rm \pi} }/{2}, {2{\rm \pi} }/{3}, {3{\rm \pi} }/{4}, {5{\rm \pi} }/{6})$ keeping $( k=D=\mu =1 )$.

Figure 8

Figure 9. Leading-order (dimensionless) velocities of both (a) drop and (b) Janus particle in the point source limit $( \tau =99 )$ for different cap angles $( \alpha ={{\rm \pi} }/{6}, {{\rm \pi} }/{4}, {{\rm \pi} }/{3}, {{\rm \pi} }/{2}, {2{\rm \pi} }/{3}, {3{\rm \pi} }/{4}, {5{\rm \pi} }/{6})$ keeping $( k=D= \mu =1 )$.

Figure 9

Figure 10. Validation of the method of reflections: comparison of the (dimensionless) velocities from the method of reflection solutions (4.5) and (4.6) with the bispherical solutions for different cap angles (a) $\alpha = {{\rm \pi} }/{3}$, (b) $\alpha = {{\rm \pi} }/{2}$, (c) $\alpha = {2{\rm \pi} }/{3}$ keeping $( k=D=\mu =1 )$ and $( \tau =9 )$.

Figure 10

Figure 11. Dimensionless velocities of the drop and the Janus particle for low and high values of the ratio (a–c) $D$, (d–f) $k$ and (g–i) $\mu$ for $(\tau =0.01,1,99)$ keeping the other corresponding ratios as 1 and $\alpha ={{\rm \pi} }/{2}$.

Figure 11

Figure 12. (a) Graphical depiction of lubrication limit; (b) schematic diagram for lubrication analysis.

Supplementary material: PDF

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