Issue 7, 2014

A self-propelled thermophoretic microgear

Abstract

An asymmetric microgear will spontaneously and unidirectionally rotate if it is heated in a cool surrounding solvent. The resulting temperature gradient along the edges of the gear teeth translates in a directed thermophoretic force, which will exert a net torque on the gear. By means of computer simulations, the validity of this scenario is proved. The rotational direction and speed are dependent on gear–solvent interactions, and can be analytically related to system parameters like the thermal diffusion factor, the solvent viscosity, or the temperature difference. This microgear provides a simple way to extract net work from non-isothermal solutions, and can become a valuable tool in microfluids.

Graphical abstract: A self-propelled thermophoretic microgear

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Sep 2013
Accepted
02 Dec 2013
First published
03 Dec 2013
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2014,10, 1006-1011

A self-propelled thermophoretic microgear

M. Yang and M. Ripoll, Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 1006 DOI: 10.1039/C3SM52417E

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