Chiral active particles are sensitive reporters to environmental geometry

Chung Wing Chan, Daihui Wu, Kaiyao Qiao, Kin Long Fong, Zhiyu Yang, Yilong Han and Rui Zhang ()
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Chung Wing Chan: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Daihui Wu: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Kaiyao Qiao: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Kin Long Fong: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Zhiyu Yang: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Yilong Han: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Rui Zhang: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Chiral active particles (CAPs) are self-propelling particles that break time-reversal symmetry by orbiting or spinning, leading to intriguing behaviors. Here, we examined the dynamics of CAPs moving in 2D lattices of disk obstacles through active Brownian dynamics simulations and granular experiments with grass seeds. We find that the effective diffusivity of the CAPs is sensitive to the structure of the obstacle lattice, a feature absent in achiral active particles. We further studied the transport of CAPs in obstacle arrays under an external field and found a reentrant directional locking effect, which can be used to sort CAPs with different activities. Finally, we demonstrated that parallelogram lattices of obstacles without mirror symmetry can separate clockwise and counter-clockwise CAPs. The mechanisms of the above three novel phenomena are qualitatively explained. As such, our work provides a basis for designing chirality-based tools for single-cell diagnosis and separation, and active particle-based environmental sensors.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45531-5

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