Journal article
Active micromachines: Microfluidics powered by mesoscale turbulence
- Abstract:
- Dense active matter, from bacterial suspensions and microtubule bundles driven by motor proteins to cellular monolayers and synthetic Janus particles, is characterised by mesoscale turbulence, the emergence of chaotic flow structures. By immersing an ordered array of symmetric rotors in an active fluid, we introduce a microfluidic system that exploits spontaneous symmetry breaking in mesoscale turbulence to generate work. The lattice of rotors self-organises into a spin-state where neighbouring discs continuously rotate in permanent alternating directions due to combined hydrodynamic and elastic effects. Our virtual prototype demonstrates a new research direction for the design of micromachines powered by the nematohydrodynamic properties of active turbulence.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.3MB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1126/sciadv.1501854
Authors
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Journal:
- Science Advances More from this journal
- Publication date:
- 2016-07-08
- Acceptance date:
- 2016-06-14
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
2375-2548
- ISSN:
-
2375-2548
- Pubs id:
-
pubs:629282
- UUID:
-
uuid:674d9d4c-572e-4c43-984d-0321c5645908
- Local pid:
-
pubs:629282
- Source identifiers:
-
629282
- Deposit date:
-
2016-06-22
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Thampi et al
- Copyright date:
- 2016
- Notes:
- 2016 © The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).
If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record