Issue 36, 2017

Motility of active nematic films driven by “active anchoring”

Abstract

We provide a minimal model for an active nematic film in contact with both a solid substrate and a passive isotropic fluid, and explore its dynamics in one and two dimensions using a combination of hybrid Lattice Boltzmann simulations and analytical calculations. By imposing nematic anchoring at the substrate while active flows induce a preferred alignment at the interface (“active anchoring”), we demonstrate that directed fluid flow spontaneously emerges in cases where the two anchoring types are opposing. In one dimension, our model reduces to an analogue of a loaded elastic column. Here, the transition from a stationary to a motile state is akin to the buckling bifurcation, but offers the possibility to reverse the flow direction for a given set of parameters and boundary conditions solely by changing initial conditions. The two-dimensional variant of our model allows for additional tangential instabilities, and it is found that undulations form in the interface above a threshold activity. Our results might be relevant for the design of active microfluidic geometries or curvature-guided self-assembly.

Graphical abstract: Motility of active nematic films driven by “active anchoring”

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Feb 2017
Accepted
31 Jul 2017
First published
31 Jul 2017

Soft Matter, 2017,13, 6137-6144

Motility of active nematic films driven by “active anchoring”

M. L. Blow, M. Aqil, B. Liebchen and D. Marenduzzo, Soft Matter, 2017, 13, 6137 DOI: 10.1039/C7SM00325K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements