Surfactants and rotelles in active chiral fluids
Christian Scholz1, Anton Ldov2, Thorsten Pöschel3
1Institut für Theoretische Physik II: Weiche Materie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. christian.scholz@hhu.de.
Science Advances
|April 15, 2021
Summary
Researchers developed active surfactant analogs for chiral fluids, creating novel
Area of Science:
- Physics
- Soft Matter Physics
- Active Matter
Background:
- Traditional surfactants operate near thermodynamic equilibrium.
- Active matter systems exist far from equilibrium and exhibit unique behaviors.
- Chiral fluids possess distinct handedness, influencing self-assembly and dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and characterize active analogs of surfactants in active chiral fluids.
- To explore the self-assembly and interfacial behavior of these active surfactants.
- To investigate the formation of chiral structures analogous to micelles.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing three-dimensionally printed vibrots to create active spinners.
- Constructing vibrot chains with mixed handedness to act as active surfactants.
- Conducting experiments and simulations to observe their behavior in chiral fluid domains.
Main Results:
- Active surfactants demonstrate affinity for interfaces, acting as mixing agents.
- Single-stranded chains self-assemble into spinning vesicles called rotelles.
- Rotelle formation is a non-equilibrium, vorticity-driven ratchet mechanism.
Conclusions:
- Active surfactants in chiral fluids offer a new paradigm beyond equilibrium systems.
- Rotelles represent chiral analogs of micelles, formed via a non-equilibrium process.
- This work opens avenues for designing active materials with emergent self-assembly properties.
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