We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Tunable self-healing of magnetically propelling colloidal carpets.
- Authors
Massana-Cid, Helena; Meng, Fanlong; Matsunaga, Daiki; Golestanian, Ramin; Tierno, Pietro
- Abstract
The process of crystallization is difficult to observe for transported, out-of-equilibrium systems, as the continuous energy injection increases activity and competes with ordering. In emerging fields such as microfluidics and active matter, the formation of long-range order is often frustrated by the presence of hydrodynamics. Here we show that a population of colloidal rollers assembled by magnetic fields into large-scale propelling carpets can form perfect crystalline materials upon suitable balance between magnetism and hydrodynamics. We demonstrate a field-tunable annealing protocol based on a controlled colloidal flow above the carpet that enables complete crystallization after a few seconds of propulsion. The structural transition from a disordered to a crystalline carpet phase is captured via spatial and temporal correlation functions. Our findings unveil a novel pathway to magnetically anneal clusters of propelling particles, bridging driven systems with crystallization and freezing in material science. Activity often suppresses equilibrium ordering and crystallization in a group of driven or self-propelling colloids. Massana-Cid et al. show tunable self-healing process, where magnetic colloidal rollers are assembled to crystalline carpets upon a balance between magnetism and hydrodynamic interactions.
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2019, Vol 10, Issue 1, pN.PAG
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-019-10255-4