Active matter in space published in npj Microgravity

Effect of gravity on matter: Sedimentation and creaming. Fv and Fg represent the viscous force and gravitational force, respectively. (Image by Authors.)
Active matter in space
Giorgio Volpe, Clemens Bechinger, Frank Cichos, Ramin Golestanian, Hartmut Löwen, Matthias Sperl and Giovanni Volpe
npj Microgravity, 8, 54 (2022)
doi: 10.1038/s41526-022-00230-7

In the last 20 years, active matter has been a highly dynamic field of research, bridging fundamental aspects of non-equilibrium thermodynamics with applications to biology, robotics, and nano-medicine. Active matter systems are composed of units that can harvest and harness energy and information from their environment to generate complex collective behaviours and forms of self-organisation. On Earth, gravity-driven phenomena (such as sedimentation and convection) often dominate or conceal the emergence of these dynamics, especially for soft active matter systems where typical interactions are of the order of the thermal energy. In this review, we explore the ongoing and future efforts to study active matter in space, where low-gravity and microgravity conditions can lift some of these limitations. We envision that these studies will help unify our understanding of active matter systems and, more generally, of far-from-equilibrium physics both on Earth and in space. Furthermore, they will also provide guidance on how to use, process and manufacture active materials for space exploration and colonisation.

Press release on Tunable critical Casimir forces counteract Casimir-Lifshitz attraction

An illustration of microscopic gold flakes on surface. (Image by F. Schmidt.)
The article Tunable critical Casimir forces counteract Casimir-Lifshitz attraction has been featured in the News of the University of Gothenburg (in English and in Swedish), SISSA-International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.

The study, published in Nature Physics and co-written by researchers at the Soft Matter Lab of the Department of Physics at the University of Gothenburg, demonstrate that tunable repulsive critical Casimir forces can be used to counteract stiction, i.e., the tendency of tiny parts of micro- and nanoelectromechanical devices to stick together, which is caused by the Casimir-Lifshitz interaction.

The study is featured also in Phys.org, NanoWerk.

Here the links to the press releases:
Casimir vs Casimir – using opposing forces to improve nanotechnology (GU, English)
https://www.gu.se/nyheter/casimir-vs-casimir-klaschande-krafter-kan-forbattra-nanotekniken (GU, Swedish)
Casimir vs Casimir – usare forze opposte per migliorare le nanotecnologie (SISSA, Italian)
Casimir vs Casimir – using opposing forces to improve nanotechnology (SISSA, English)
Nano-Bauteile clever voneinander lösen (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
Clever method for separating nano-components (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)
Clever method for separating nano-components (Phys.org)
Clever method for separating nano-components (NanoWerk)

Tunable critical Casimir forces counteract Casimir-Lifshitz attraction published in Nature Physics

Gold flake suspended over a functionalized gold-coated substrate. (Image by F. Schmidt.)
Tunable critical Casimir forces counteract Casimir-Lifshitz attraction
Falko Schmidt, Agnese Callegari, Abdallah Daddi-Moussa-Ider, Battulga Munkhbat, Ruggero Verre, Timur Shegai, Mikael Käll, Hartmut Löwen, Andrea Gambassi and Giovanni Volpe
Nature Physics 19, 271-278 (2023)
arXiv: 2202.10926
doi: 10.1038/s41567-022-01795-6

Casimir forces in quantum electrodynamics emerge between microscopic metallic objects because of the confinement of the vacuum electromagnetic fluctuations occurring even at zero temperature. Their generalization at finite temperature and in material media are referred to as Casimir-Lifshitz forces. These forces are typically attractive, leading to the widespread problem of stiction between the metallic parts of micro- and nanodevices. Recently, repulsive Casimir forces have been experimentally realized but their reliance on specialized materials prevents their dynamic control and thus limits their further applicability. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that repulsive critical Casimir forces, which emerge in a critical binary liquid mixture upon approaching the critical temperature, can be used to actively control microscopic and nanoscopic objects with nanometer precision. We demonstrate this by using critical Casimir forces to prevent the stiction caused by the Casimir-Lifshitz forces. We study a microscopic gold flake above a flat gold-coated substrate immersed in a critical mixture. Far from the critical temperature, stiction occurs because of dominant Casimir-Lifshitz forces. Upon approaching the critical temperature, however, we observe the emergence of repulsive critical Casimir forces that are sufficiently strong to counteract stiction. This experimental demonstration can accelerate the development of micro- and nanodevices by preventing stiction as well as providing active control and precise tunability of the forces acting between their constituent parts.

Flash Talk by F. Schmidt at 729. WE Heraeus Seminar on Fluctuation Induced Forces, Online, 16 February 2022

Title slide of the presentation. (Image by F. Schmidt.)
Casimir-Lifshitz forces vs. Critical Casimir forces: Trapping and releasing of flat metallic particles
Falko Schmidt
729. WE-Heraeus Stiftung Seminar on Fluctuation-induced Forces
16 February 2022, 14:50 CET

Casimir forces in quantum electrodynamics emerge between microscopic metallic objects because of the confinement of the vacuum electromagnetic fluctuations occuring even at zero temperature. Their generalization at finite temperature and in material media are referred to as Casimir-Lifshitz forces. These forces are typically attractive, leading to the widespread problem of stiction between the metallic parts of micro- and nanodevices. Recently, repulsive Casimir forces have been experimentally realized but their use of specialized materials stills means that the system can not be controlled dynamically and thus limits further implementation to real-world applications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that repulsive critical Casimir forces, which emerge in a critical binary liquid mixture upon approaching the critical temperature, can be used to prevent stiction due to Casimir-Lifshitz forces. We show that critical Casimir forces can be dynamically tuned via temperature, eventually overcoming Casimir-Lifshitz attraction. We study a microscopic gold flake above a flat gold-coated substrate immersed in a critical mixture. Far from the critical temperature, stiction occurs because of Casimir-Lifshitz forces. Upon approaching the critical temperature, however, we observe the emergence of repulsive critical Casimir forces that are sufficiently strong to counteract stiction. By removing one of the key limitations to their deployment, this experimental demonstration can accelerate the development of micro- and nanodevices for a broad range of applications.

Flash Talk by A. Callegari at 729. WE Heraeus Seminar on Fluctuation Induced Forces, Online, 14 February 2022

Potential energy landscape for a flake suspended on a patterned substrate. (Image by A. Callegari.)
Theoretical and numerical study of the interplay of Casimir-Lifshitz and critical Casimir force for a metallic flake suspended on a metal-coated substrate
Agnese Callegari
729. WE-Heraeus Stiftung Seminar on Fluctuation-induced Forces
14 February 2022, 14:50 CET

Casimir-Lifshitz forces arise between uncharged metallic objects because of the confinement of the electromagnetic fluctuations. Typically, these forces are attractive, and they are the main cause of stiction between microscopic metallic parts of micro- and nanodevices. Critical Casimir forces emerge between objects suspended in a critical binary liquid mixture upon approaching the critical temperature, can be made either attractive or repulsive by choosing the appropriate boundary conditions, and dynamically tuned via the temperature.
Experiments show that repulsive critical Casimir forces can be used to prevent stiction due to Casimir-Lifshitz forces. In a recent work, a microscopic metallic flake was suspended in a liquid solution above a metal-coated substrate [1]. By suspending the flake in a binary critical mixture and tuning the temperature we can control the flake’s hovering height above the substrate and, in the case of repulsive critical Casimir forces, prevent stiction.
Here, we present the model for the system of the metallic flake suspended above a metal-coated substrate in a binary critical mixture and show that repulsive critical Casimir forces can effectively counteract Casimir-Lifshitz forces and can be used to control dynamically the height of the flake above the surface. This provides a validation of the experimental results and a base to explore and design the behavior of similar systems in view of micro- and nanotechnological applications.

References
[1] F. Schmidt, A. Callegari, A. Daddi-Moussa-Ider, B. Munkhbat, R. Verre, T. Shegai, M. Käll, H. Löwen, A. Gambassi and G. Volpe, to be submitted (2022)

Press release on Active Droploids

The article Active Droploids has been featured in a press release of the University of Gothenburg.

The study, published in Nature Communications, examines a special system of colloidal particles and demonstrates a new kind of active matter, which interacts with and modifies its environment. In the long run, the result of the study can be used for drug delivery inside the human body or to perform sensing of environmental pollutants and their clean-up.

Here the links to the press releases:
English: Feedback creates a new class of active biomimetic materials.
Swedish: Feedback möjliggör en ny form av aktiva biomimetiska material.

The article has been features also in Mirage News, Science Daily, Phys.org, Innovations Report, Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw) online, Nanowerk.

Active droploids published in Nature Communications

Active droploids. (Image taken from the article.)
Active droploids
Jens Grauer, Falko Schmidt, Jesús Pineda, Benjamin Midtvedt, Hartmut Löwen, Giovanni Volpe & Benno Liebchen
Nat. Commun. 12, 6005 (2021)
doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26319-3
arXiv: 2109.10677

Active matter comprises self-driven units, such as bacteria and synthetic microswimmers, that can spontaneously form complex patterns and assemble into functional microdevices. These processes are possible thanks to the out-of-equilibrium nature of active-matter systems, fueled by a one-way free-energy flow from the environment into the system. Here, we take the next step in the evolution of active matter by realizing a two-way coupling between active particles and their environment, where active particles act back on the environment giving rise to the formation of superstructures. In experiments and simulations we observe that, under light-illumination, colloidal particles and their near-critical environment create mutually-coupled co-evolving structures. These structures unify in the form of active superstructures featuring a droplet shape and a colloidal engine inducing self-propulsion. We call them active droploids—a portmanteau of droplet and colloids. Our results provide a pathway to create active superstructures through environmental feedback.

Active Colloidal Molecules published in J. Chem. Phys.

Light-controlled Assembly of Active Colloidal Molecules
Light-controlled Assembly of Active Colloidal Molecules

Light-controlled Assembly of Active Colloidal Molecules
Falko Schmidt, Benno Liebchen, Hartmut Löwen & Giovanni Volpe
Journal of Chemical Physics 150(9), 094905 (2019)
doi: 10.1063/1.5079861
arXiv: 1801.06868

Thanks to a constant energy input, active matter can self-assemble into phases with complex architectures and functionalities such as living clusters that dynamically form, reshape, and break-up, which are forbidden in equilibrium materials by the entropy maximization (or free energy minimization) principle. The challenge to control this active self-assembly has evoked widespread efforts typically hinging on engineering of the properties of individual motile constituents. Here, we provide a different route, where activity occurs as an emergent phenomenon only when individual building blocks bind together in a way that we control by laser light. Using experiments and simulations of two species of immotile microspheres, we exemplify this route by creating active molecules featuring a complex array of behaviors, becoming migrators, spinners, and rotators. The possibility to control the dynamics of active self-assembly via light-controllable nonreciprocal interactions will inspire new approaches to understand living matter and to design active materials.

Funding:

ERC-founder H2020 European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant ComplexSwimmers (677511).
VR-founder Vetenskapsrådet (Grant No. 2016-03523).
German Research Foundation DFG within LO 418–19-1.

Colloquium on active matter by Hartmut Löwen, PJ Lecture Hall, 13 sep 2018

Physics of active soft matter
General Physics Colloquium by Hartmut Löwen, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf​, Germany

​Abstract: Ordinary materials are “passive” in the sense that their constituents are typically made by inert particles which are subjected to thermal fluctuations, internal interactions and external fields but do not move on their own. Living systems, like schools of fish, swarms of birds, pedestrians and swimming microbes are called “active matter” since they are composed of self-propelled constituents. Active matter is intrinsically in nonequilibrium and exhibits a plethora of novel phenomena as revealed by a recent combined effort
of statistical theory, computer simulation and real-space experiments. The colloquium talk provides an introduction into the physics of active matter focussing on biological and artificial microswimmers as key examples of active soft matter [1]. A number of single-particle and collective phenomena in active matter will be adressed ranging from the circle swimming to inertial delay effects.​​

​[1] For a review, see: C. Bechinger, R. di Leonardo, H. Löwen, C. Reichhardt, G. Volpe, G. Volpe, Active particles in complex and crowded environments, Reviews of Modern Physics 88, 045006 (2016).

Place: PJ Lecture Hall

Review on Active Matter published in Rev. Mod. Phys.

Active Brownian particles in complex and crowded environments

Active Brownian particles in complex and crowded environments (Invited review)
Clemens Bechinger, Roberto Di Leonardo, Hartmut Löwen, Charles Reichhardt, Giorgio Volpe & Giovanni Volpe
Reviews of Modern Physics 88(4), 045006 (2016)
DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.88.045006
arXiv: 1602.00081

Differently from passive Brownian particles, active particles, also known as self-propelled Brownian particles or microswimmers and nanoswimmers, are capable of taking up energy from their environment and converting it into directed motion. Because of this constant flow of energy, their behavior can be explained and understood only within the framework of nonequilibrium physics. In the biological realm, many cells perform directed motion, for example, as a way to browse for nutrients or to avoid toxins. Inspired by these motile microorganisms, researchers have been developing artificial particles that feature similar swimming behaviors based on different mechanisms. These man-made micromachines and nanomachines hold a great potential as autonomous agents for health care, sustainability, and security applications. With a focus on the basic physical features of the interactions of self-propelled Brownian particles with a crowded and complex environment, this comprehensive review will provide a guided tour through its basic principles, the development of artificial self-propelling microparticles and nanoparticles, and their application to the study of nonequilibrium phenomena, as well as the open challenges that the field is currently facing.