Chirality separation of mixed chiral microswimmers in a periodic channel

• Published in: Soft matter Vol. 11; no. 19; pp. 3852 - 3859
• Main Authors: Ai, Bao-quan, He, Ya-feng, Zhong, Wei-rong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Channels; Chirality; Constants; Diffusion; Dynamic tests; Mechanical Phenomena; Models, Theoretical; Motion; Separation; Shear flow; Stereoisomerism; Transport; Tuning
• ISSN: 1744-683X; 1744-6848
• DOI: 10.1039/c5sm00651a

Dynamics and separation of mixed chiral microswimmers are numerically investigated in a channel with regular arrays of rigid half-circle obstacles. For zero shear flow, transport behaviors are the same for different chiral particles: the average velocity decreases with increase of the rotational diffusion coefficient, the direction of the transport can be reversed by tuning the angular velocity, and there exists an optimal value of the packing fraction at which the average velocity takes its maximal value. However, when the shear flow is considered, different chiral particles show different behaviors. By suitably tailoring parameters, particles with different chiralities can move in different directions and can be separated. In addition, we also proposed a space separation method by introducing a constant load, where counterclockwise and clockwise particles stay in different regions of the channel. We numerically studied the dynamics and separation of mixed chiral microswimmers in a channel with regular arrays of rigid half-circle obstacles. Mixed chiral microswimmers can be separated by applying the shear flow or the constant load.