1. Dynamic self-assembly of active particles in liquid crystals.
- Author
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de Souza, R.F., Zaccheroni, S., Ricci, M., and Zannoni, C.
- Subjects
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GRANULAR flow , *STREAMFLOW , *MOLECULAR dynamics , *BINARY mixtures , *SMECTIC liquid crystals , *LIQUID crystals - Abstract
• A MD study of self aggregation of active particles, endowed with a propelling force and suspended in a liquid crystal. • Active and inactive particles are modelled with Gay-Berne mesogens known to form isotropic, nematic and smectic phases. • Active particles streams flowing in opposite directions form in a range of temperature, concentration and propelling force. • A nematic or smectic phase is needed for laning, while lanes do not form for active particles in isotropic fluids. • This is one of the first molecular level investigations of active liquid crystals. We studied a binary mixture of self propelling (active) and standard (passive), Gay-Berne mesogens using a molecular dynamics technique. We found that in a certain range ofactive particle concentration, propelling force and temperature, here identified, a liquid crystalline sample where active particles are initially randomly distributed can form self-assembling parallel streams (lanes) of active particles flowing in opposite directions. As far as we are aware this is the first microscopic study showing the dynamic self organization of active particles in thermotropic liquid crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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