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Self-assembly of active bifunctional Brownian particles.
Caterina Landi1, John Russo2, Francesco Sciortino2
1Departamento de Estructura de la Materia, Física Térmica y Electrónica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain. cvaleriani@ucm.es.
Soft Matter
|November 25, 2024
Summary
Active bifunctional Brownian particles self-assemble into aggregating chains, unlike passive systems. Activity reduces chain length and promotes alignment, leading to novel motility-induced spirals and spinning crystalline clusters.
Area of Science:
- Soft Matter Physics
- Active Matter Systems
- Polymerization Dynamics
Background:
- Understanding out-of-equilibrium polymerization is crucial for designing novel materials.
- Active Brownian particles exhibit unique self-assembly behaviors driven by self-propulsion.
- Patchy particles offer tunable interactions for controlled self-organization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the polymerization of active bifunctional Brownian particles (ABBPs) in linear chains.
- To explore the influence of particle activity on chain formation and aggregation.
- To identify novel self-assembled states induced by activity.
Main Methods:
- Simulations of active bifunctional Brownian particles (ABBPs).
- Analysis of particle trajectories, chain formation, and aggregation dynamics.
- Investigation across various temperatures, densities, and activity levels.
Main Results:
- ABBPs self-assemble into aggregating chains, contrasting with passive systems.
- Activity reduces chain length and aligns propulsion vectors during bonding.
- Novel states observed: motility-induced spirals (MISP) at low temperatures and spinning crystalline clusters at high activity.
Conclusions:
- Particle activity significantly alters polymerization and self-assembly compared to passive systems.
- Emergence of novel dynamic structures like motility-induced spirals and spinning crystalline clusters.
- Activity-driven self-organization offers pathways to engineer complex active matter architectures.
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