Active particles powered by Quincke rotation in a bulk fluid

Das, Debasish and Lauga, Eric (2019) Active particles powered by Quincke rotation in a bulk fluid. Physical Review Letters, 122 (19). 194503. ISSN 1079-7114 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.194503)

[thumbnail of Das-Lauga-PRL-2019-Active-particles-powered-by-Quincke-rotation-in-a-bulk]
Preview
Text. Filename: Das_Lauga_PRL_2019_Active_particles_powered_by_Quincke_rotation_in_a_bulk.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript

Download (1MB)| Preview

Abstract

Dielectric particles suspended in a weakly conducting fluid are known to spontaneously start rotating under the action of a sufficiently strong uniform dc electric field due to the Quincke rotation instability. This rotation can be converted into translation when the particles are placed near a surface providing useful model systems for active matter. Using a combination of numerical simulations and theoretical modeling, we demonstrate that it is possible to convert this spontaneous Quincke rotation into spontaneous translation in a plane perpendicular to the electric field in the absence of surfaces by relying on geometrical asymmetry instead.