van Roon, Danne M;
Volpe, Giorgio;
da Gama, Margarida M Telo;
Araújo, Nuno AM;
(2025)
Three-dimensional model for surface accumulation of chiral and nonchiral microswimmers.
Physical Review E
, 111
(4)
, Article 045405. 10.1103/physreve.111.045405.
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Abstract
Persistent motion of microswimmers near boundaries is known to result in surface accumulation. A way to control surface accumulation is by reducing the contact surface area between swimmers and surface by modifying its topography, typically through the application of microscale structures. In this work, we introduce a three-dimensional (3D) phenomenological model of a microswimmer navigating a volume bounded by a top and bottom surface. We describe the swimmer-surface interaction with an effective near-surface alignment force, and study numerically the effect of surface textures, modeled by convex obstacles, on the surface accumulation of chiral and nonchiral microswimmers. We find that, depending on the angular velocity of the swimmer, and the alignment force, convex obstacles can either hinder or enhance surface accumulation. We discuss potential applications to sorting of microswimmers by their angular velocity.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Three-dimensional model for surface accumulation of chiral and nonchiral microswimmers |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1103/physreve.111.045405 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.111.045405 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207200 |
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