Giant activity-induced elasticity in entangled polymer solutions

Davide Breoni, Christina Kurzthaler, Benno Liebchen, Hartmut Löwen and Suvendu Mandal ()
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Davide Breoni: Heinrich Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Christina Kurzthaler: Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
Benno Liebchen: Technische Universität Darmstadt
Hartmut Löwen: Heinrich Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Suvendu Mandal: Heinrich Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract One of the key achievements of equilibrium polymer physics is the prediction of scaling laws governing the viscoelastic properties of entangled polymer systems, validated in both natural polymers, such as DNA, and synthetic polymers, including polyethylene, which form materials like plastics. Recently, focus has shifted to active polymers systems composed of motile units driven far from equilibrium, such as California blackworms, self-propelled biopolymers, and soft robotic grippers. Despite their growing importance, we do not yet understand their viscoelastic properties and universal scaling laws. Here, we use Brownian dynamics simulations to investigate the viscoelastic properties of highly-entangled, flexible self-propelled polymers. Our results demonstrate that activity enhances the elasticity by orders of magnitude due to the emergence of grip forces at entanglement points, leading to its scaling with polymer length ∼ L. Furthermore, activity fluidizes the suspension, with the long-time viscosity scaling as ∼ L2, compared to ∼ L3 in passive systems. These insights open new avenues for designing activity-responsive polymeric materials.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60210-9

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