Swimming in circles of a Janus particle by diffusion of insoluble surfactant on its active face
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Crowdy, Darren
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
An exact solution is obtained for the Stokes flow around an active circular two-dimensional Janus swimmer whose active face is a free surface and its inert face is a no-slip surface, a conceptual design motivated by recent work on superhydrophobic surfaces. Locomotion is driven by Marangoni stresses associated with the diffusion of insoluble surfactant from one edge of the active face to the other. The dynamical system governing the motion of the swimmer is derived explicitly in terms of the swimmer geometry. It is shown that this Marangoni-driven actuation mechanism results in a translational-rotational coupling causing the Janus particle to swim in circles while spinning about its center. While idealized, the model swimmer exemplifies a set of minimal ingredients needed to set up such translational-rotational coupling.
Date Issued
2025-10-15
Date Acceptance
2025-09-17
Citation
Physical Review Fluids, 2025, 10 (10)
ISSN
2469-990X
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review Fluids
Volume
10
Issue
10
Copyright Statement
Published by the American Physical Society Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
License URL
Subjects
Physical Sciences
Physics
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Science & Technology
SELF-PROPELLED OBJECTS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
104101
Date Publish Online
2025-10-15