Issue 12, 2008

Colloidal micromotor in smectic A liquid crystal driven by DC electric field

Abstract

Converting linear stimulus to rotation has endless examples in virtually all scales of the universe. One of the interesting examples is Quincke rotation, a spinning rotation of a dielectric sphere neutrally buoyant in an isotropic fluid caused by a unidirectional DC electric field. Recently Quincke rotation has been reported in liquid crystalline (LC) phases, and it was noted that spinning triggers a translational motion normal to the electric field and the rotation axis. In this work, we explain the translation of spinning spheres as a result of hydrodynamic interaction with the bounding walls. We also describe a unique orbiting motion: the spinning particles circumnavigate air inclusions in the liquid crystal. The effect is caused by an elastic entrapment of the spheres at tilted grain boundaries in the meniscus region in the smectic phase. This phenomenon can offer new types of microfluidic devices and micromotors.

Graphical abstract: Colloidal micromotor in smectic A liquid crystal driven by DC electric field

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 May 2008
Accepted
23 Jul 2008
First published
10 Sep 2008

Soft Matter, 2008,4, 2471-2474

Colloidal micromotor in smectic A liquid crystal driven by DC electric field

A. Jákli, B. Senyuk, G. Liao and O. D. Lavrentovich, Soft Matter, 2008, 4, 2471 DOI: 10.1039/B807927G

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