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Self-assembly of active colloidal molecules with dynamic function

Rodrigo Soto

Ramin Golestanian

  • Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas Universidad de Chile, Av. Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago, Chile

  • Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom

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Phys. Rev. E 91, 052304 – Published 12 May, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.052304

Abstract

Catalytically active colloids maintain nonequilibrium conditions in which they produce and deplete chemicals and hence effectively act as sources and sinks of molecules. While individual colloids that are symmetrically coated do not exhibit any form of dynamical activity, the concentration fields resulting from their chemical activity decay as 1/r and produce gradients that attract or repel other colloids depending on their surface chemistry and ambient variables. This results in a nonequilibrium analog of ionic systems, but with the remarkable novel feature of action-reaction symmetry breaking. We study solutions of such chemically active colloids in dilute conditions when they join up to form molecules via generalized ionic bonds and discuss how we can achieve structures with time-dependent functionality. In particular, we study a molecule that adopts a spontaneous oscillatory pattern of conformations and another that exhibits a run-and-tumble dynamics similar to bacteria. Our study shows that catalytically active colloids could be used for designing self-assembled structures that possess dynamical functionalities that are determined by their prescribed three-dimensional structures, a strategy that follows the design principle of proteins.

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Phys. Rev. E 91, 052304– Published 12 May, 2015
  • Received 17 February 2015

©2015 American Physical Society

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