Surface effects in photoactivated inorganic microswimmers

Andrew Leeth Holterhoff, Mingyang Li, and John G. Gibbs

Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Overview
The overall goal of this project is to investigate how surfaces affect the dynamics of photoactivated
microparticles or microswimmers. Titanium dioxide (TiO2)/silica (SiO2) colloids are active under UV light and
self-propel. We found that both the material and the roughness of the surfaces over which the particles move
both strongly affect the speeds of the active particles, opening up a new route of control.

Fabrication and Activation Results Mechanism

Speed of Janus spheres for different thicknesses of Au

− +
𝐻2 𝑂2 + 2𝑒 + 2𝐻 → 2𝐻2 𝑂
+ +
𝐻2 𝑂2 + 2ℎ → 𝑂2 + 2𝐻

Schematic showing fabrication steps to produce

photoactivated microswimmers Speed on Au (Grey) vs SiO2 (Blue) surfaces for
a) Janus Particles b) Elongated Particles

Ni

𝜁𝑝 − 𝜁𝑤
𝑣Ԧ ≅ 𝜖 𝐸
Activation under UV-light and resulting motion of the
𝜂
structured photoactive microswimmers Acknowledgments & References
Funding: NSF Award CBET-1703322: Photocatalytic Active Matter
Personnel: Sam Sarkar, John Castañeda
References:
(1) A. Leeth Holterhoff, M. Li, J. G. Gibbs*, Self-phoretic
microswimmers propel at speeds dependent upon an adjacent
surface's physicochemical properties. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 9, 5023
(2018).
(2) Shape-dependent motion of structured photoactive microswimmers.
Speed on smooth surfaces (Blue) vs ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 10, 18050 (2018).
Video frames of the particles in action
rough surfaces (Grey) *email: john.gibbs@nau.edu