Chemically symmetric and asymmetric self-driven rigid dumbbells in 2D polymer gel

TL;DR

This study uses computer simulations to explore how chemically symmetric and asymmetric self-driven dumbbells move in a 2D polymer gel, revealing that activity enhances their dynamics and chemical asymmetry further improves mobility, with implications for designing microswimmers.

Contribution

The paper introduces a detailed simulation analysis of self-driven dumbbells in gel, highlighting the effects of chemical asymmetry and propulsion direction on their dynamics, which is novel in this context.

Findings

Self-propulsion enhances dumbbell dynamics.

Chemical asymmetry further increases mobility.

Self-propulsion direction significantly affects motion.

Abstract

We employ computer simulations to unveil the translational and rotational dynamics of the self-driven chemically symmetric and asymmetric rigid dumbbells in two-dimensional polymer gel. Our results show that activity or the self-propulsion always enhances the dynamics of the dumbbells. Making the self-propelled dumbbell chemically asymmetric leads to further enhancement in dynamics. Additionally, the direction of self-propulsion is a key factor for the chemically asymmetric dumbbells, where self-propulsion towards the non-sticky half of the dumbbell results in faster translational and rotational dynamics compare to the case with the self-propulsion towards the sticky half of the dumbbell. Our analyses show that both the symmetric and asymmetric passive rigid dumbbells get trapped inside the mesh of the polymer gel, but the chemical asymmetry always facilitates mesh to mesh motion of the dumbbell and it is even more pronounced when the dumbbell is self-propelled. This results multiple peaks in the van Hove function with increasing self-propulsion. In a nutshell, we believe that our in silico study can guide the researchers design efficient artificial microswimmers possessing potential applications in site-specific delivery.