How to steer active colloids up a vertical wall

Adérito Fins Carreira, Adam Wysocki, Christophe Ybert, Mathieu Leocmach, Heiko Rieger () and Cécile Cottin-Bizonne ()
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Adérito Fins Carreira: Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière
Adam Wysocki: Saarland University
Christophe Ybert: Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière
Mathieu Leocmach: Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière
Heiko Rieger: Saarland University
Cécile Cottin-Bizonne: Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract An important challenge in active matter lies in harnessing useful global work from entities that produce work locally, e.g., via self-propulsion. We investigate here the active matter version of a classical capillary rise effect, by considering a non-phase separated sediment of self-propelled Janus colloids in contact with a vertical wall. We provide experimental evidence of an unexpected and dynamic adsorption layer at the wall. Additionally, we develop a complementary numerical model that recapitulates the experimental observations. We show that an adhesive and aligning wall enhances the pre-existing polarity heterogeneity within the bulk, enabling polar active particles to climb up a wall against gravity, effectively powering a global flux. Such steady-state flux has no equivalent in a passive wetting layer.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45872-1

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