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Colloidal transport by light induced gradients of active pressure

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola Pellicciotta

    (Sapienza Università di Roma
    NANOTEC-CNR, Soft and Living Matter Laboratory, Institute of Nanotechnology)

  • Matteo Paoluzzi

    (Universitat de Barcelona)

  • Dario Buonomo

    (Sapienza Università di Roma)

  • Giacomo Frangipane

    (Sapienza Università di Roma
    NANOTEC-CNR, Soft and Living Matter Laboratory, Institute of Nanotechnology)

  • Luca Angelani

    (Sapienza Università di Roma
    Institute for Complex Systems)

  • Roberto Di Leonardo

    (Sapienza Università di Roma
    NANOTEC-CNR, Soft and Living Matter Laboratory, Institute of Nanotechnology)

Abstract

Active fluids, like all other fluids, exert mechanical pressure on confining walls. Unlike equilibrium, this pressure is generally not a function of the fluid state in the bulk and displays some peculiar properties. For example, when activity is not uniform, fluid regions with different activity may exert different pressures on the container walls but they can coexist side by side in mechanical equilibrium. Here we show that by spatially modulating bacterial motility with light, we can generate active pressure gradients capable of transporting passive probe particles in controlled directions. Although bacteria swim faster in the brighter side, we find that bacteria in the dark side apply a stronger pressure resulting in a net drift motion that points away from the low activity region. Using a combination of experiments and numerical simulations, we show that this drift originates mainly from an interaction pressure term that builds up due to the compression exerted by a layer of polarized cells surrounding the slow region. In addition to providing new insights into the generalization of pressure for interacting systems with non-uniform activity, our results demonstrate the possibility of exploiting active pressure for the controlled transport of microscopic objects.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Pellicciotta & Matteo Paoluzzi & Dario Buonomo & Giacomo Frangipane & Luca Angelani & Roberto Di Leonardo, 2023. "Colloidal transport by light induced gradients of active pressure," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-39974-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39974-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jochen Arlt & Vincent A. Martinez & Angela Dawson & Teuta Pilizota & Wilson C. K. Poon, 2018. "Painting with light-powered bacteria," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Jochen Arlt & Vincent A. Martinez & Angela Dawson & Teuta Pilizota & Wilson C. K. Poon, 2019. "Dynamics-dependent density distribution in active suspensions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Sho C. Takatori & Raf De Dier & Jan Vermant & John F. Brady, 2016. "Acoustic trapping of active matter," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, April.
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