Dynamic self-assembly of active particles in liquid crystals

RF de Souza and S Zaccheroni and M Ricci and C Zannoni, JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR LIQUIDS, 352, 118692 (2022).

DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2022.118692

We studied a binary mixture of self propelling (active) and standard (passive), Gay-Berne mesogens using a molecular dynamics technique. We found that in a certain range ofactive particle concentration, propelling force and temperature, here identified, a liquid crystalline sample where active particles are initially randomly distributed can form self-assembling parallel streams (lanes) of active particles flowing in opposite directions. As far as we are aware this is the first microscopic study showing the dynamic self organization of active particles in thermotropic liquid crystals.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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