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Surface Charge Regulated Non-Equilibrium Assembly and Open Living Crystals of Chemically Driven Ring-Shaped Micromotors

delete2026-08-13
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PRE
AI
Z
Zhang Luo
W
Weijia Xiao
刘冰 cover
刘冰 (Bing Liu) *
DOI:10.1002/adma.74621delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Active colloidal systems, driven by self-propulsion and collective dynamics, offer a non-equilibrium route to soft materials. Realizing such materials hinges on creating novel active systems and deciphering their collective behavior. Here we present a new type of ring-shaped, partially-coated Pt-SiO2 colloidal micromotor and report our finding that the sign of the surface charge plays a crucial role in determining the propulsion speed and reversing the living crystallization behavior. Our results show that negatively charged ring-shaped micromotors can achieve high propulsion speeds exceeding 20 µm s−1 at 0.5 wt% H2O2 solution, whereas positively charged rings move much more slowly. We further find that negatively and positively charged rings always exhibit opposite living crystallization behaviors: if one type can crystallize, the other cannot. We reveal that this opposite crystallization behavior stems from the consistently opposite EO flow directions, irrespective of whether the flow field is symmetric or asymmetric. Living crystallization occurs only when the inward EO flow region exceeds 50% of the ring circumference. By combining experiments and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the sharp difference in the flow fields between oppositely charged ring-shaped micromotors originates from the different surface charge signs of the rings and the substrate.
Keywords:
collective behavior
living crystal
micromotors
ring
surface charge

Journal

Advanced Materials cover
Advanced Materials
IF:
26.8
Papers:
3.4W
Citations:
46.0W

Organization

C
chinese academy of sciences
Scholars:
54.9W
Papers: 44.5W
Citations: 703
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