We assemble a biomimetic active material from microscopic components like cells' filaments and protein motors that consume energy and generate continuous motion. Such active systems are capable of self-organization at different length and time scales, often exhibiting turbulent flows and the emergence of long-range orientational order, which is a characteristic of active nematics (AN)....
Since the development of the first generation of self-propelled nanomotors, the field has undergone extensive exploration. A wide range of nanomotors has been synthesized, varying in materials, shapes, sizes, and propulsion mechanisms [1]. However, this diversity also introduces new challenges and raises fundamental questions, particularly regarding practical applications. Current research is...
We investigate the low energy state of an artificial colloidal ice, namely a collection of interacting paramagnetic colloids confined into a lattice of potential wells such that its geometry induces frustration via competing interactions at each vertex. In contrast to previous work with isotropic repulsions, we consider the case of time-average attractive interactions between the particles...
Clustering is one of the mayor collective phenomena observed in active matter. We study the overdamped motion of interacting active Brownian particles in two dimensions. An instability in the pair correlation function causes the onset of clustering. This clustering mechanism depends mainly on the self-propulsion properties of the active particles and details of the interactions do not effect...
The atomic force microscope (AFM) is gaining progressive attention for its capability to provide maps of biophysical properties of adhered micro- and nanostructures at high spatial resolution (in the nanometre range), and in live conditions (buffers, cell media). In the biomedical community, these properties are much less explored than other type of characterization based on genetics and...
