Light-controlled Assembly of Active Colloidal Molecules

Abstract

Thanks to a constant energy input, active matter can self-assemble into phases with complex architectures and functionalities such as living clusters that dynamically form, reshape and break-up, which are forbidden in equilibrium materials by the entropy maximization (or free energy minimization) principle. The challenge to control this active self-assembly has evoked widespread efforts typically hinging on engineering of the properties of individual motile constituents. Here, we provide a different route, where activity occurs as an emergent phenomenon only when individual building blocks bind together in a way that we control by laser light. Using experiments and simulations of two species of immotile microspheres, we exemplify this route by creating active molecules featuring a complex array of behaviors, becoming migrators, spinners and rotators. The possibility to control the dynamics of active self-assembly via light-controllable nonreciprocal interactions will inspire new approaches to understand living matter and to design active materials.

arXiv comment20 pages, 4 figures; New Version: corrected typos, added detailed sections about simulations, clarified phoretic interactions responsible for molecule formation

References in corpus (29)

• Active Particles in Complex and Crowded Environments
• The Mechanics and Statistics of Active Matter
• Dynamical clustering and phase separation in suspensions of self-propelled colloidal particles
• Propulsion of a molecular machine by asymmetric distribution of reaction--products
• Dynamic clustering in active colloidal suspensions with chemical signaling
• Phase diagram of patchy colloids: towards empty liquids
• Microswimmers in Patterned Environments
• Circular motion of asymmetric self-propelling particles
• Non-equilibrium clustering of self-propelled rods
• Emergent behavior in active colloids
• Active Brownian Motion Tunable by Light
• Tuned, driven, and active soft matter
• Clusters, asters and collective oscillations in chemotactic colloids
• Self-assembly of catalytically active colloidal molecules: Tailoring activity through surface chemistry
• Dynamic clustering and chemotactic collapse of self-phoretic active particles
• Statistical mechanics for non-reciprocal forces
• Minimal model of active colloids highlights the role of mechanical interactions in controlling the emergent behavior of active matter
• Clustering and pattern formation in chemorepulsive active colloids
• Phoretic Interactions Generically Induce Dynamic Clusters and Wave Patterns in Active Colloids
• Self-assembly of Active Colloidal Molecules with Dynamic Function
• Self-assembly of colloidal molecules due to self-generated flow
• Nonadditivity of Critical Casimir Forces
• Which Interactions Dominate in Active Colloids?
• Pulling and Pushing a Cargo With a Catalytically Active Carrier
• Microscopic Engine Powered by Critical Demixing
• Active Colloidal Molecules
• Self-diffusiophoresis of Janus particles in near-critical mixtures
• Self-propulsion mechanism of active Janus particles in near-critical binary mixtures
• Nanoconfined catalytic Ångström-size motors

Cited by in corpus (42)

• The 2019 Motile Active Matter Roadmap
• Scalar Active Mixtures: The Non-Reciprocal Cahn-Hilliard Model
• Measurement of Anomalous Diffusion Using Recurrent Neural Networks
• Optimal steering of a smart active particle
• Self-organized lasers of reconfigurable colloidal assemblies
• Metamachines of Pluripotent Colloids
• Spontaneously rotating clusters of active droplets
• Dynamical Crystallites of Active Chiral Particles
• Interactions in Active Colloids
• Light, Matter, Action: Shining light on active matter
• Dynamics of active particles with space-dependent swim velocity
• Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of micro-channels
• Rapid-Prototyping a Brownian Particle in an Active Bath
• Active droploids
• Non-equilibrium phase separation in mixtures of catalytically active particles: size dispersity and screening effects
• Towards an analytical description of active microswimmers in clean and in surfactant-covered drops
• Designing, Synthesizing and Modeling Active Fluids
• Dynamics of Magnus Dominated Particle Clusters, Collisions, Pinning and Ratchets
• Optimisation of an active heat engine
• Hydrochemical interactions of phoretic particles: a regularized multipole framework
• Clustering-induced velocity-reversals of active colloids mixed with passive particles
• Efficiency of isothermal active matter engines: Strong driving beats weak driving
• Network effects lead to self-organization in metabolic cycles of self-repelling catalysts
• Autonomous navigation of shape-shifting microswimmers
• Active Colloidal Molecules in Activity Gradients
• Engineering active motion in quantum matter
• Interaction-motif-based classification of self-organizing metabolic cycles
• Characterizing Different Motility Induced Regimes in Active Matter with Machine Learning and Noise
• Optothermal pulling, trapping, and assembly of colloids using nanowire plasmons
• Impact of non-reciprocal interactions on colloidal self-assembly with tunable anisotropy
• Stability of interlocked self-propelled dumbbell clusters
• Statistics of carrier-cargo complexes
• Phase Transitions in single species Ising Models with Non-Reciprocal couplings
• Active Crowds
• Rigid flocks, undulatory gaits, and chiral foldamers in a chemically active polymer
• Self-organization of active colloids mediated by chemical interactions
• Sorting of binary active-passive mixtures in designed microchannels
• Non Gaussian information of heterogeneity in Soft Matter
• A minimal model with stochastically broken reciprocity
• Odd elasticity in disordered chiral active materials
• Nonreciprocal Blume-Capel Model with Antisymmetric Single-Ion Anisotropies
• Chiral Active Matter