Chemotactic self-caging in active emulsions
2022 | journal article. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
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Chemotactic self-caging in active emulsions
Hokmabad, B. V.; Agudo-Canalejo, J.; Saha, S.; Golestanian, R. & Maass, C. C. (2022)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(24) art. e2122269119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122269119
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- Authors
- Hokmabad, Babak Vajdi; Agudo-Canalejo, Jaime; Saha, Suropriya; Golestanian, Ramin; Maass, Corinna C.
- Abstract
- A common feature of biological self-organization is how active agents communicate with each other or their environment via chemical signaling. Such communications, mediated by self-generated chemical gradients, have consequences for both individual motility strategies and collective migration patterns. Here, in a purely physicochemical system, we use self-propelling droplets as a model for chemically active particles that modify their environment by leaving chemical footprints, which act as chemorepulsive signals to other droplets. We analyze this communication mechanism quantitatively both on the scale of individual agent–trail collisions as well as on the collective scale where droplets actively remodel their environment while adapting their dynamics to that evolving chemical landscape. We show in experiment and simulation how these interactions cause a transient dynamical arrest in active emulsions where swimmers are caged between each other’s trails of secreted chemicals. Our findings provide insight into the collective dynamics of chemically active particles and yield principles for predicting how negative autochemotaxis shapes their navigation strategy.
- Issue Date
- 2022
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- ISSN
- 0027-8424
- eISSN
- 1091-6490
- Language
- English
- Sponsor
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 501100001659
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 501100002347
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft 501100004189