Chirality-induced helical self-propulsion of cholesteric liquid crystal droplets
Chirality-induced helical self-propulsion of cholesteric liquid crystal droplets
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DOI：
10.1039/c7sm00337d
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发表时间：
2017-05-14
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Sano, Masaki
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yamamoto, Takaki;Sano, Masaki
我们报告的第一个实验实现的手性人工microswimmer表现出螺旋运动，没有任何外部领域。我们发现，在表面活性剂水溶液中，具有螺旋指向矢场的液晶液滴在Marangoni流的驱动下沿螺旋路径游动。我们还表明，当通过用对映体取代手性掺杂剂来逆转CLC液滴时，螺旋路径的手性被逆转。相反，双相液晶（NLC）液滴表现出弹道运动。这些结果表明，CLC液滴的螺旋运动是由Marangoni流和旋转运动之间的手性耦合通过CLC液滴的螺旋指向矢场驱动的。
We report the first experimental realization of a chiral artificial microswimmer exhibiting helical motion without any external fields. We discovered that a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) droplet with a helical director field swims in a helical path driven by the Marangoni flow in an aqueous surfactant solution. We also showed that the handedness of the helical path is reversed when that of the CLC droplet is reversed by replacing the chiral dopant with the enantiomer. In contrast, nematic liquid crystal (NLC) droplets exhibited ballistic motions. These results suggest that the helical motion of the CLC droplets is driven by chiral couplings between the Marangoni flow and rotational motion via the helical director field of CLC droplets.