Remote control of self-assembled microswimmers

Abstract

Physics governing the locomotion of microorganisms and other microsystems is dominated by viscous damping. An effective swimming strategy involves the non-reciprocal and periodic deformations of the considered body. Here, we show that a magnetocapillary-driven self-assembly, composed of three soft ferromagnetic beads, is able to swim along a liquid-air interface when powered by an external magnetic field. More importantly, we demonstrate that trajectories can be fully controlled, opening ways to explore low Reynolds number swimming. This magnetocapillary system spontaneously forms by self-assembly, allowing miniaturization and other possible applications such as cargo transport or solvent flows.

5 pages, 5 figures article

References in corpus (5)

• The hydrodynamics of swimming microorganisms
• Assembling Ellipsoidal Particles at Fluid Interfaces using Switchable Dipolar Capillary Interactions
• Statics and dynamics of magnetocapillary bonds
• Stability and dynamics of magnetocapillary interactions
• Pros and cons of swimming in a noisy environment

Cited by in corpus (21)

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• Active Brownian motion with orientation-dependent motility: theory and experiments
• Magnetocapillary self-assemblies: locomotion and micromanipulation along a liquid interface
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• Surface microswimmers, harnessing the interface to self-propel
• Magnetically powered metachronal waves induce locomotion in self-assemblies
• Statics and dynamics of magnetocapillary bonds
• Optimal motion of triangular magnetocapillary swimmers
• Capillary assemblies in a rotating magnetic field
• Capillary surfers: wave-driven particles at a vibrating fluid interface
• Active volatile drops on liquid baths
• A general perturbative approach for bead-based microswimmers reveals rich self-propulsion phenomena
• Colloidal Brazil nut effect in microswimmer mixtures induced by motility contrast
• The near and far of a pair of magnetic capillary disks
• The control of particles in the Stokes limit
• Stirrers and movers actuated by oscillating fields
• Motion and trapping of micro- and millimeter-sized particles on the air-paramagnetic-liquid interface
• Theoretical modeling of capillary surfer interactions on a vibrating fluid bath
• Neuroevolution of Decentralized Decision-Making in N-Bead Swimmers Leads to Scalable and Robust Collective Locomotion
• Regimes of motion of magnetocapillary swimmers
• Lattice Boltzmann simulations of two linear microswimmers using the immersed boundary method