2025/03/21 by Nicola Pellicciotta, Ojus Satish Bagal, Pellicciotta, Nicola +7
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Micro and Nano Robotics #Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2503.17021
openalex publication_date 2025/03/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The persistent dynamics of active particles makes them explore extended portions of an obstacle's boundary during collisions. From impact to escape, the net applied forces depend on the curvature of the wall and increase in the presence of concave features. Here we systematically investigate the forces exerted by swimming bacteria on microfabricated structures, where the radii of curvature can be varied parametrically. We find that these micro-sails are propelled with a speed that scales linearly with curvature and is directed from concave to convex side along the axis of symmetry. By solving the collision problem for microswimmers with aligning torque interactions, we demonstrate that, unlike spherical active particles, curvature mainly affects cell orientation during sliding, leading to greater normal thrust on the concave side and an net applied thrust that scales linearly with curvature.