Self-propulsion through symmetry breaking

Abstract

In addition to self-propulsion by phoretic mechanisms that arises from an asymmetric distribution of reactive species around a catalytic motor, spherical particles with a uniform distribution of catalytic activity may also propel themselves under suitable conditions. Reactive fluctuation-induced asymmetry can give rise to transient concentration gradients which may persist under certain conditions, giving rise to a bifurcation to self-propulsion. The nature of this phenomenon is analyzed in detail, and particle-level simulations are carried out to demonstrate its existence.

6 pages, 3 figures. Appeared in EPL (Europhysics Letters)

References in corpus (1)

• Propulsion of a molecular machine by asymmetric distribution of reaction--products

Cited by in corpus (16)

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