Issue 31, 2020

Morphological transitions of active Brownian particle aggregates on porous walls

Abstract

Motility-induced wall aggregation of Active Brownian Particles (ABPs) is a well-studied phenomenon. Here, we study the aggregation of ABPs on porous walls, which allows the particles to penetrate through at large motility. We show that the active aggregates undergo a morphological transition from a connected dense-phase to disconnected droplets with an increase in wall porosity and the particle self-motility, similar to wetting-dewetting transitions in equilibrium fluids. We show that both morphologically distinct states are stable, and independent of initial conditions at least in some parameter regions. Our analysis reveals that changes in wall porosity affect the intrinsic properties of the aggregates and changes the effective wall-aggregate interfacial tension, consistent with the appearance of the morphological transition. Accordingly, a close analysis of the density, as well as orientational distribution, indicates that the underlying reason for such morphological transitions is not necessarily specific to the systems with porous walls, and it can be possible to observe in a larger class of confined, active systems by tuning the properties of confining walls.

Graphical abstract: Morphological transitions of active Brownian particle aggregates on porous walls

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
02 May 2020
Accepted
20 Jul 2020
First published
27 Jul 2020

Soft Matter, 2020,16, 7250-7255

Morphological transitions of active Brownian particle aggregates on porous walls

S. Das and R. Chelakkot, Soft Matter, 2020, 16, 7250 DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00797H

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