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Effect of Viscosity on Microswimmers: A Comparative Study
Author(s) -
Nsamela Audrey,
Sharan Priyanka,
GarciaZintzun Aidee,
Heckel Sandra,
Chattopadhyay Purnesh,
Wang Linlin,
Wittmann Martin,
Gemming Thomas,
Saenz James,
Simmchen Juliane
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemnanomat
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2199-692X
DOI - 10.1002/cnma.202100119
Subject(s) - viscosity , propulsion , diffusion , janus , drag , materials science , nanotechnology , mechanics , chemistry , physics , thermodynamics , composite material
Although many biological fluids like blood and mucus exhibit high viscosities, there are still many open questions concerning the swimming behavior of microswimmers in highly viscous media, limiting research to idealized laboratory conditions instead of application‐oriented scenarios. Here, we analyze the effect of viscosity on the swimming speed and motion pattern of four kinds of microswimmers of different sizes which move by contrasting propulsion mechanisms: two biological swimmers (bovine sperm cells and Bacillus subtilis bacteria) which move by different bending patterns of their flagella and two artificial swimmers with catalytic propulsion mechanisms (alginate microtubes and Janus Pt@SiO 2 spherical microparticles). Experiments consider two different media (glycerol and methylcellulose) with increasing viscosity, but also the impact of surface tension, catalyst activity and diffusion coefficients are discussed and evaluated.