2021
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21322-0
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Symmetry breaking propulsion of magnetic microspheres in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids

Abstract: Microscale propulsion impacts a diverse array of fields ranging from biology and ecology to health applications, such as infection, fertility, drug delivery, and microsurgery. However, propulsion in such viscous drag-dominated fluid environments is highly constrained, with time-reversal and geometric symmetries ruling out entire classes of propulsion. Here, we report the spontaneous symmetry-breaking propulsion of rotating spherical microparticles within non-Newtonian fluids. While symmetry analysis suggests t… Show more

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Cited by 37 publications
(38 citation statements)
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“…Locomotion in viscoelastic biofluids, such as mucus, presents a particularly more challenging problem since small particles or molecules cannot penetrate the protective viscoelastic mucus layer and cannot reach the underlying epithelial surface ( 23 , 24 ), thus rendering the microrobot ineffective. Although a few microrobot designs have achieved locomotion in specific biofluids using a chemical surface modification ( 25 ), time-asymmetric reciprocal strokes ( 26 ), spontaneous symmetry breaking of magnetic microspheres ( 27 ), and nanoscale helical propeller designs ( 28 ), a robust single micrometer-scale robot design capable of fast locomotion in a broad range of complex biofluids is still missing.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Locomotion in viscoelastic biofluids, such as mucus, presents a particularly more challenging problem since small particles or molecules cannot penetrate the protective viscoelastic mucus layer and cannot reach the underlying epithelial surface ( 23 , 24 ), thus rendering the microrobot ineffective. Although a few microrobot designs have achieved locomotion in specific biofluids using a chemical surface modification ( 25 ), time-asymmetric reciprocal strokes ( 26 ), spontaneous symmetry breaking of magnetic microspheres ( 27 ), and nanoscale helical propeller designs ( 28 ), a robust single micrometer-scale robot design capable of fast locomotion in a broad range of complex biofluids is still missing.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This may not be the case at very high or ; for example, Rogowski et al. (2021) demonstrate that a sphere rotating at very high is capable of spontaneous symmetry-breaking. Such effects do not play an important role in this low regime, but they do suggest that the optimal tail geometry will likely change based on the range.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Because these effects all depend closely on the specific mechanics of flagellar propulsion, understanding how they manifest for other microswimmers that employ other methods of self-propulsion is another area of active inquiry 179,180 . Indeed, analysis of the fluid dynamics of diverse other microswimmers indicates that elastic stresses can induce faster swimming even for swimmers that do not wobble 178,[181][182][183][184][185] .…”
Section: B Viscoelastic Polymer Solutionsmentioning
confidence: 99%