Nematic colloidal micro-robots as physically intelligent systems

Yao, Tianyi (author), Kos, Žiga (author), Zhang, Qi Xing (author), Luo, Yimin (author), Serra, Francesca (author), Steager, Edward B. (author), Ravnik, Miha (author), Stebe, Kathleen J. (author)

Physically intelligent micro-robotic systems exploit information embedded in micro-robots, their colloidal cargo, and their milieu to interact, assemble, and form functional structures. Nonlinear anisotropic fluids such as nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) provide untapped opportunities to embed interactions via their topological defects, complex elastic responses, and ability to dramatically restructure in dynamic settings. Here a four-armed ferromagnetic micro-robot is designed and fabricated to embed and dynamically reconfigure information in the nematic director field, generating a suite of physical interactions for cargo manipulation. The micro-robot shape and surface chemistry are designed to generate a nemato-elastic energy landscape in the domain that defines multiple modes of emergent, bottom-up interactions with passive colloids. Micro-robot rotation expands the ability to sculpt interactions; the energy landscape around a rotating micro-robot is dynamically reconfigured by complex far-from-equilibrium dynamics of the micro-robot’s companion topological defect. These defect dynamics allow transient information to be programmed into the domain and exploited. Robust micro-robotic manipulation strategies are demonstrated that exploit these diverse modes of nemato-elastic interaction to achieve cargo docking, transport, release, and assembly of complex reconfigurable structures at multi-stable sites. Such structures are of great interest to future developments of LC-based advanced optical device and micro-manufacturing in anisotropic environments.

• Language: English
• Keywords: active soft materials, nematic colloids, micro-robots, nonlinear dynamics, topology, directed assembly, emergent interactions
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FMF - Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 13 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 32, iss. 44, art. 2205546
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-143412
• UDC: 538.9
• ISSN on article: 1616-301X
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202205546
• COBISS.SI-ID: 119422979
• Publication date in RUL: 20.12.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Advanced functional materials
• Shortened title: Adv. funct. mater.
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1616-301X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 23502597

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: aktivna mehka snov, nematski koloidi, mikroroboti, nelinearna dinamika, topologija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P1-0099
• Name: Fizika mehkih snovi, površin in nanostruktur

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: N1-0124
• Name: Geometrijsko in topološko vodenje aktivnih elastomerov