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Project C1

Dynamics of Autonomous Swimmers in Confinement

Project leaders

  1. Dr. Artur Erbe
  2. Prof. Dr. Paul Leiderer

Summary

The behavior of active swimmers is investigated in the interplay with various external potentials. The particles can be used as model systems for a large variety of biological systems and as tracer particles which help to characterize a two dimensional glassy state. The active swimmers are produced by evaporating metallic caps on top of spherical Silica particles. The metallic hemisphere can cause a catalytic reaction on its surface when the particles are placed in a suspension of fuel molecules which are given by hydrogen peroxide in our experiments. In addition, the metallic caps bear a fixed magnetic moment which can be used to direct the particles by application of an external magnetic field. The diffusion of these swimmers in narrow channels and their aggregation on vertical walls will be studied. The particles are also driven through a disordered host suspension at a constant force in order to understand the microrheology of the host suspension.