Activity-assisted barrier crossing of self-propelled colloids over parallel microgrooves

We report a systematic study of the dynamics of self-propelled particles (SPPs) over a one-dimensional periodic potential landscape U0(x), which is fabricated on a microgroove-patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. From the measured nonequilibrium probability density function P(x; F0) of the SPPs, we find that the escape dynamics of the slow rotating SPPs across the potential landscape can be described by an effective potential Ueff(x; F0), once the self-propulsion force F0 is included into the potential under the fixed angle approximation. This work demonstrates that the parallel microgrooves provide a versatile platform for a quantitative understanding of the interplay among the self-propulsion force F0, spatial confinement by U0(x), and thermal noise, as well as its effects on activity-assisted escape dynamics and transport of the SPPs.

Automated summary

We conducted a systematic study on the dynamics of self-propelled particles (SPPs) on a one-dimensional periodic potential landscape fabricated on a microgroove-patterned PDMS substrate. By analyzing the measured nonequilibrium probability density function P(x; F0) of the SPPs, we found that the escape dynamics of slow rotating SPPs across the potential landscape can be described by an effective potential Ueff(x; F0) when taking the self-propulsion force F0 into account under the fixed angle approximation. This work demonstrates that parallel microgrooves offer a versatile platform for quantitatively understanding the interplay among the self-propulsion force F0, spatial confinement by U0(x), thermal noise, and their effects on the activity-assisted escape dynamics and transport of the SPPs.