Clustering of chemically propelled nanomotors in chemically active environments

TL;DR

This paper investigates how chemically propelled nanomotors behave collectively in complex chemical environments, revealing that environmental patterns influence their clustering and movement, with implications for biomedical and nanotechnological applications.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical and simulation framework to understand nanomotor collective behavior in chemically active environments, highlighting environmental pattern influence.

Findings

Environmental patterns guide nanomotor clustering and movement.

Interactions with chemical networks produce unique spatiotemporal patterns.

Motor behavior differs significantly from inactive fluid environments.

Abstract

Synthetic nanomotors powered by chemical reactions have been designed to act as vehicles for active cargo transport, drug delivery as well as a variety of other uses. Collections of such motors, acting in consort, can self-assemble to form swarms or clusters, providing opportunities for applications on various length scales. While such collective behavior has been studied when the motors move in a chemically inactive fluid environment, when the medium in which they move is a chemical network that supports complex spatial and temporal patterns, through simulation and theoretical analysis we show that collective behavior changes. Spatial patterns in the environment can guide and control motor collective states, and interactions of the motors with their environment can give rise to distinctive spatiotemporal motor patterns. The results are illustrated by studies of the motor dynamics in systems that support Turing patterns and spiral waves. This work is relevant for potential applications that involve many active nanomotors moving in complex chemical or biological environments.