Artificial micro-swimmers in simulated natural environments

Abstract

acd Microswimmers, such as bacteria, are known to show different behaviours depending on their local environment. They identify spatial chemical gradients to find nutrient rich areas (chemotaxis) and interact with shear flows to accumulate in high shear regions. Recently, artificial microswimmers have been developed which mimic their natural counterparts in many ways. One of the exciting topics in this field is to study these artificial motors in several natural settings like the ones bacteria interact with. In this Focus article, we summarize recent observations of artificial swimmers in chemical gradients, shear flows and other interesting natural environments simulated in the lab using microfluidics and nanotechnology.

Developmental adaptations of trypanosome motility to the tsetse fly host environments unravel a multifaceted in vivo microswimmer system

“…Used mainly for biotechnological applications, few studies have focussed on microswimming and the elucidation of natural environmental factors (Hochstetter and Pfohl, 2016; Stellamanns et al., 2014; Tung et al, 2015; Uppaluri et al, 2012). A major approach to simulating natural environments is seen in research on artificial microswimmers, where both the motile components and the confinement conditions can be controlled (Katuri et al, 2016). …”

Dynamic Coupling at Low Reynolds Number

“…Thea bility to impart motion to small molecules and particle assemblies in colloidal suspensions by self-propelled swimmers opens up unique opportunities to manipulate the flow of information and energy at the molecular scale and create new technologies with capabilities rivaling those of living systems.M oreover,o ne of the major incentives of soft matter research in recent years has been to develop ac omprehensive understanding of the interactions among selfpropelled swimmers at various length scales and their communication with the surroundings under complex conditions. [211][212][213][214][215][216][217][218] Success in such an endeavor will enable us to control their organization inside fluidic media and bestow them with rapid and reversible assembly capabilities without any external interventions.M odel systems containing interacting swimmers and tracers offer ideal platforms to observe the nontrivial behavior of systems driven away from equilibrium. Localized energy transduction in an active assembly, apart from leading to their self-propulsion, has been proposed to create fluctuating force fields around themselves that are…”

“…The ability to impart motion to small molecules and particle assemblies in colloidal suspensions by self‐propelled swimmers opens up unique opportunities to manipulate the flow of information and energy at the molecular scale and create new technologies with capabilities rivaling those of living systems. Moreover, one of the major incentives of soft matter research in recent years has been to develop a comprehensive understanding of the interactions among self‐propelled swimmers at various length scales and their communication with the surroundings under complex conditions . Success in such an endeavor will enable us to control their organization inside fluidic media and bestow them with rapid and reversible assembly capabilities without any external interventions.…”

Dynamische Kopplung bei niedriger Reynoldszahl

“…Man könnte neue Technologien schaffen, die manches vielleicht besser können als lebende Systeme. Ein bedeutender Anreiz bei der Erforschung der weichen Materie ist seit einigen Jahren, die Wechselwirkungen von Schwimmern mit Eigenantrieb auf verschiedenen Längenskalen umfassend zu erklären und ihre Kommunikation mit der Umgebung unter komplexen Bedingungen zu verstehen . Sind wir dabei erfolgreich, können wir Schwimmer in fluiden Medien gezielt ausrichten und sie dazu bringen, sich ohne äußere Einflussnahme rasch und reversibel in größere Anordnungen zu vereinigen.…”