Self-phoretic Brownian dynamics simulations

Area of Science:

• Soft Matter Physics
• Computational Physics
• Chemical Physics

Background:

• Self-phoretic swimmers exhibit complex collective behaviors driven by various interactions.
• Accurate simulation models are crucial for understanding these behaviors and their underlying physics.
• Existing models may not fully capture the interplay of forces in these systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a realistic and effective model for simulating phoretic Brownian dynamics swimmers.
• To investigate the collective behavior of self-phoretic dimers using the developed model.
• To compare the model with simpler versions to understand key interaction dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Developed a phoretic Brownian dynamics model based on the general form of the thermophoretic force.
• Investigated collective behavior of self-phoretic dimers.
• Compared simulation results with two simpler models and multiparticle collision dynamics.

Main Results:

• The model effectively simulates phoretic Brownian dynamics swimmers.
• The study elucidates the interplay between steric interactions, propulsion, and phoretic effects in dimer behavior.
• The model's control parameters allow tuning to match experimental and explicit solvent simulation properties.

Conclusions:

• The phoretic Brownian dynamics method provides a tunable and realistic simulation approach.
• Combining this method with multiparticle collision dynamics is powerful for identifying hydrodynamic interaction importance.
• The model advances the understanding of collective behavior in self-phoretic swimmer systems.