Regimes of motion of magnetocapillary swimmers

Abstract

The dynamics of a triangular magnetocapillary swimmer is studied using the lattice Boltzmann method. We extend on our previous work, which deals with the self-assembly and a specific type of the swimmer motion characterized by the swimmer’s maximum velocity centred around the particle’s inverse viscous time. Here, we identify additional regimes of motion. First, modifying the ratio of surface tension and magnetic forces allows to study the swimmer propagation in the regime of significantly lower frequencies mainly defined by the strength of the magnetocapillary potential. Second, introducing a constant magnetic contribution in each of the particles in addition to their magnetic moment induced by external fields leads to another regime characterized by strong in-plane swimmer reorientations that resemble experimental observations. Graphic Abstract

Magneto-capillary particle dynamics at curved interfaces: inference and criticism of dynamical models

“…Such models allow for rapid screening of candidate designs-for example, different driving fields, particle shapes, and magnetic properties-to identify and understand the conditions that produce desired functions. Existing models of magneto-capillary particle motion on curved interfaces are based on lattice Boltzmann simulations of the Navier-Stokes equations 14,17 or numerical integration of approximate dynamical equations. 15,16 The former allows for direct simulation of multiple particles of different shapes and/or surface chemistries but requires significant computational resources, which can slow the design process.…”

Editorial: Motile active matter

“…More information about these aspects can be found in Refs. [4,14,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] of this Topical Issue.…”