Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels
We propose a mechanism to control the formation of stable obstructions in two-dimensional microchannels of variable sections taking advantage of the peculiar clustering property of active systems. Under the activation of the self-propulsion by external stimuli, the system behaves as a switch accordi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Physical Review Research |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043359 |
| _version_ | 1797211166783569920 |
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| author | L. Caprini F. Cecconi C. Maggi U. Marini Bettolo Marconi |
| author_facet | L. Caprini F. Cecconi C. Maggi U. Marini Bettolo Marconi |
| author_sort | L. Caprini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We propose a mechanism to control the formation of stable obstructions in two-dimensional microchannels of variable sections taking advantage of the peculiar clustering property of active systems. Under the activation of the self-propulsion by external stimuli, the system behaves as a switch according to the following principle: by turning-on the self-propulsion the particles become active and even at very low densities stick to the walls and form growing layers eventually blocking the channel bottleneck, while the obstruction dissolves when the self-propulsion is turned off. We construct the phase diagram distinguishing clogged and open states in terms of density and bottleneck width. The study of the average clogging time, as a function of density and bottleneck width, reveals the marked efficiency of the active clogging that swiftly responds to the self-propulsion turning on. The resulting picture shows a profound difference with respect to the clogging obtained through the slow diffusive dynamics of attractive passive Brownian disks. This numerical work suggests a novel method to use particles with externally tunable self-propulsion to create or destroy plugs in microchannels. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:22:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f2d0912b184c4f048bca5242450e1575 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2643-1564 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:22:10Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-f2d0912b184c4f048bca5242450e15752024-04-12T17:05:07ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642020-12-012404335910.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043359Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannelsL. CapriniF. CecconiC. MaggiU. Marini Bettolo MarconiWe propose a mechanism to control the formation of stable obstructions in two-dimensional microchannels of variable sections taking advantage of the peculiar clustering property of active systems. Under the activation of the self-propulsion by external stimuli, the system behaves as a switch according to the following principle: by turning-on the self-propulsion the particles become active and even at very low densities stick to the walls and form growing layers eventually blocking the channel bottleneck, while the obstruction dissolves when the self-propulsion is turned off. We construct the phase diagram distinguishing clogged and open states in terms of density and bottleneck width. The study of the average clogging time, as a function of density and bottleneck width, reveals the marked efficiency of the active clogging that swiftly responds to the self-propulsion turning on. The resulting picture shows a profound difference with respect to the clogging obtained through the slow diffusive dynamics of attractive passive Brownian disks. This numerical work suggests a novel method to use particles with externally tunable self-propulsion to create or destroy plugs in microchannels.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043359 |
| spellingShingle | L. Caprini F. Cecconi C. Maggi U. Marini Bettolo Marconi Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels Physical Review Research |
| title | Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels |
| title_full | Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels |
| title_fullStr | Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels |
| title_full_unstemmed | Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels |
| title_short | Activity-controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels |
| title_sort | activity controlled clogging and unclogging of microchannels |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043359 |
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