Scientific Achievement
The emergence of novel self-organized dynamic lattices has been revealed in ensembles of active rollers via temporal activity modulation. Control of the novel phases is demonstrated.
Significance and Impact
The work provides insights into the behavior of active liquids capable of complex collective behavior. The results yield new strategies for the design and control of active materials.
Research Details
- Active colloidal rollers emerge due to spontaneous dielectric particle rotations in a static electric field.
- The formation of dynamic structures is triggered by a temporal decoupling between dominant interparticle interactions: hydrodynamic velocity alignment and near-field electrostatic repulsion.
- Collective behavior is captured by a particle-based simulation model.
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