Self-propelling colloids with finite state dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Endowing materials with the ability to sense, adapt, and respond to stimuli holds the key to a progress leap in autonomous systems. In spite of the growing success of macroscopic soft robotic devices, transferring these concepts to the microscale presents several challenges connected to the lack of suitable fabrication and design techniques and of internal response schemes that connect the materials' properties to the function of the active units. Here, we realize self-propelling colloidal clusters which possess a finite number of internal states, which define their motility and which are connected by reversible transitions. We produce these units via capillary assembly combining hard polystyrene colloids with two different types of thermoresponsive microgels. The clusters, actuated by spa

SUBMITTER: van Kesteren S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10089169 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature