2016/01/22 by Bao-quan Ai · 41 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Asymmetry #Chiral symmetry breaking #Chirality (physics) #Classical mechanics #Clockwise #Geometry #Mechanics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies #Particle (ecology) #Physics #Propulsion #Quantum mechanics #Ratchet #Ratchet effect #Rotation (mathematics) #Symmetry breaking #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/srep18740
published in Scientific Reports 6(1), 18740 (Nature Portfolio) · 6 pages, 6 figures
openalex publication_date 2016/01/22 · arxiv created 2016/12/24 · arxiv updated 2016/12/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We numerically investigate the ratchet transport of mixtures of active and passive particles in a transversal asymmetric channel. A big passive particle is immersed in a 'sea' of active particles. Due to the chirality of active particles, the longitudinal directed transport is induced by the transversal asymmetry. For the active particles, the chirality completely determines the direction of the ratchet transport, the counterclockwise and clockwise particles move to the opposite directions and can be separated. However, for the passive particle, the transport behavior becomes complicated, the direction is determined by competitions among the chirality, the self-propulsion speed, and the packing fraction. Interestingly, within certain parameters, the passive particle moves to the left, while active particles move to the right. In addition, there exist optimal parameters (the chirality, the height of the barrier, the self-propulsion speed and the packing fraction) at which the rectified efficiency takes its maximal value. Our findings could be used for the experimental pursuit of the ratchet transport powered by chiral active particles.