Rotational Diffusion of Soft Vesicles Filled by Chiral Active Particles

JM Chen and YF Hua and YW Jiang and XL Zhou and LX Zhang, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 7, 15006 (2017).

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15095-0

We investigate the dynamics of two-dimensional soft vesicles filled with chiral active particles by employing the overdamped Langevin dynamics simulation. The unidirectional rotation is observed for soft vesicles, and the rotational angular velocity of vesicles depends mainly on the area fraction (rho) and angular velocity (omega) of chiral active particles. There exists an optimal parameter for omega at which the rotational angular velocity of vesicle takes its maximal value. Meanwhile, at low concentration the continuity of curvature is destroyed seriously by chiral active particles, especially for large omega, and at high concentration the chiral active particles cover the vesicle almost uniformly. In addition, the center-of-mass mean square displacement for vesicles is accompanied by oscillations at short timescales, and the oscillation period of diffusion for vesicles is consistent with the rotation period of chiral active particles. The diffusion coefficient of vesicle decreases monotonously with increasing the angular velocity omega of chiral active particles. Our investigation can provide a few designs for nanofabricated devices that can be driven in a unidirectional rotation by chiral active particles or could be used as drug-delivery agent.

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