ArticleScience advances2022
Topological defect-propelled swimming of nematic colloids.
Article in Science advances, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multiscale reorganisation of colloidal aggregation by percolating bacterial networks.Soft matter · 2026Article
- Out-of-equilibrium interactions and collective locomotion of colloidal spheres with squirming of nematoelastic multipoles.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Symmetrically pulsating bubbles swim in an anisotropic fluid by nematodynamics.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Spontaneous flows and quantum analogies in heterogeneous active nematic films.Communications physics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Topological defects on colloids rotating in nematic liquid crystals form far-from-equilibrium structures that perform complex swim strokes in which the defects periodically extend, depin, and contract. These defect dynamics propel the colloid, generating translation from rotation. The swimmer's speed and direction are determined by the topological defect's polarity and extent of elongation. Defect elongation is controlled by a rotating external magnetic field, allowing control over particle trajectories. The swimmers' translational motion relies on broken symmetries associated with lubrication forces between the colloid and the bounding surfaces, line tensions associated with the elongated defect, and anisotropic viscosities associated with the defect elongation adjacent to the colloid. The scattering or effective pair interaction of these swimmers is highly anisotropic, with polarization-dependent dimer stability and motion that depend strongly on entanglement and sharing of their extended defect structures. This research introduces transient, far-from-equilibrium topological defects as a class of virtual functional structures that generate modalities of motion and interaction.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.