Swimming by reciprocal motion at low Reynolds number

Tian Qiu, Tung-Chun Lee, Andrew G. Mark, Konstantin I. Morozov, Raphael Münster, Otto Mierka, Stefan Turek, Alexander M. Leshansky and Peer Fischer ()
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Tian Qiu: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Tung-Chun Lee: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Andrew G. Mark: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Konstantin I. Morozov: Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology
Raphael Münster: Institute of Applied Mathematics (LS III), TU Dortmund, Vogelpothsweg 87, Dortmund 44227, Germany
Otto Mierka: Institute of Applied Mathematics (LS III), TU Dortmund, Vogelpothsweg 87, Dortmund 44227, Germany
Stefan Turek: Institute of Applied Mathematics (LS III), TU Dortmund, Vogelpothsweg 87, Dortmund 44227, Germany
Alexander M. Leshansky: Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology
Peer Fischer: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Biological microorganisms swim with flagella and cilia that execute nonreciprocal motions for low Reynolds number (Re) propulsion in viscous fluids. This symmetry requirement is a consequence of Purcell’s scallop theorem, which complicates the actuation scheme needed by microswimmers. However, most biomedically important fluids are non-Newtonian where the scallop theorem no longer holds. It should therefore be possible to realize a microswimmer that moves with reciprocal periodic body-shape changes in non-Newtonian fluids. Here we report a symmetric ‘micro-scallop’, a single-hinge microswimmer that can propel in shear thickening and shear thinning (non-Newtonian) fluids by reciprocal motion at low Re. Excellent agreement between our measurements and both numerical and analytical theoretical predictions indicates that the net propulsion is caused by modulation of the fluid viscosity upon varying the shear rate. This reciprocal swimming mechanism opens new possibilities in designing biomedical microdevices that can propel by a simple actuation scheme in non-Newtonian biological fluids.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6119

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