Issue 21, 2023

Deforming active droplets in viscoelastic solutions

Abstract

The motion of biological swimmers in typical bodily fluids is modelled using a system of micellar solubilization driven active droplets in a viscoelastic polymeric solution. The viscoelastic nature of the medium, as perceived by the moving droplet, characterized by the Deborah number (De), is tuned by varying the surfactant (fuel) and polymer concentration in the ambient medium. At moderate De, the droplet exhibits a steady deformed shape, markedly different from the spherical shape observed in Newtonian media. A theoretical analysis based on the normal stress balance at the interface is shown to accurately predict the droplet shape. With a further increase in De, time-periodic deformation accompanied by an oscillatory transition in swimming mode is observed. The study unveils the hitherto unexplored rich complexity in the motion of active droplets in viscoelastic fluids.

Graphical abstract: Deforming active droplets in viscoelastic solutions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Feb 2023
Accepted
01 Mai 2023
First published
01 Mai 2023

Soft Matter, 2023,19, 3783-3793

Deforming active droplets in viscoelastic solutions

P. Dwivedi, A. Shrivastava, D. Pillai, N. Tiwari and R. Mangal, Soft Matter, 2023, 19, 3783 DOI: 10.1039/D3SM00228D

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