Aggregation of self-propelled colloidal rods near confining walls

TL;DR

This study investigates how self-propelled colloidal rods behave near confining walls, revealing a process of initial cluster formation followed by dissolution and reorganization into mobile structures, using simulations and theoretical analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a combined simulation and theoretical approach to understand the non-equilibrium aggregation dynamics of active colloidal rods near walls.

Findings

Formation of transient jammed clusters at walls

Initial hedgehog-like clusters that are immobile

Transition to mobile nematized aggregates

Abstract

Non-equilibrium collective behavior of self-propelled colloidal rods in a confining channel is studied using Brownian dynamics simulations and dynamical density functional theory. We observe an aggregation process in which rods self-organize into transiently jammed clusters at the channel walls. In the early stage of the process, fast-growing hedgehog-like clusters are formed which are largely immobile. At later stages, most of these clusters dissolve and mobilize into nematized aggregates sliding past the walls.