Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.10
Swimmer directionality.
To p
the time varying directionality is plotted for a surfactant
concentration of 100mM. A linear increase is followed by a saturation of the directionality at
.
Bottom
the time averaged directionality as a function of surfactant concentration, where each point
is an average of
∼
.
0
4
∼
50 different squirmer droplets each of diameter
∼
80
μ
m
this chapter. The locomoting droplets are a novel type of artificial swimmer that
mimics the squirming mechanism of propulsion. As we have shown, the droplets are
propelled by a Marangoni driven instability that is caused by spontaneous symmetry
breaking and sustained through dissipation via a chemical reaction. The chemical
reaction has a very weak influence on the environment such that any global chemical
coupling of swimmers is not possible. Therefore they are ideally suited to study open
questions regarding the physical interactions between SPPs and in particular the role
of hydrodynamic interactions on the statistical mechanics of SPP populations.
We have taken the first steps to characterise the swimmer, its velocity and the
hydrodynamic flowfields. However, these only open the door to future possibilities—
firstly, the flow fields around the squirmers need to be characterised completely,
