# Many-body dynamics of chemically propelled nanomotors

## TL;DR

This study explores the collective dynamics of chemically propelled nanomotors in confined environments, revealing phase segregation and fluctuations driven by chemical, hydrodynamic, and thermal interactions.

## Contribution

It introduces a microscopic dynamical model for many-body nanomotor systems, highlighting the roles of chemical reactions, hydrodynamics, and interactions in their collective behavior.

## Key findings

- Segregation into high and low density phases observed.
- Strong fluctuations in homogeneous states identified.
- Chemical and hydrodynamic interactions significantly influence dynamics.

## Abstract

The collective behavior of chemically propelled sphere-dimer motors made from linked catalytic and noncatalytic spheres in a quasi-two-dimensional confined geometry is studied using a coarse-grained microscopic dynamical model. Chemical reactions at the catalytic spheres that convert fuel to product generate forces that couple to solvent degrees of freedom as a consequence of momentum conservation in the microscopic dynamics. The collective behavior of the many-body system is influenced by direct intermolecular interactions among the motors, chemotactic effects due to chemical gradients, hydrodynamic coupling, and thermal noise. Segregation into high and low density phases and globally homogeneous states with strong fluctuations are investigated as functions of the motor characteristics. Factors contributing to this behavior are discussed in the context of active Brownian models.