Field Directed Assembly and Active Systems

Our goal is to engineer active colloids that replicate natural active systems. We take advantage of our ability to control such colloids with electric fields. This project has applications in reconfigurable materials (e.g., self-healing electronics), rheological control of materials, assembly of artificial tissues, and more effective drug delivery.

A)Mixtures of highly packed JPs/SiO2 show arrested dynamics under AC fields. The JPs transition from translational to purely rotational motion.

B)The presence of an air/water interface serve as template for mixtures of JPs/SiO2 under AC fields and strong forces are induced at the interface leading to circulating flows and assembly.

C)We can also make colloidal molecules from individual building blocks that are active under AC fields.

 

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