Fluctuating chemohydrodynamics and the stochastic motion of self-diffusiophoretic particles
Fluctuating chemohydrodynamics and the stochastic motion of self-diffusiophoretic particles
Publication Type:
Journal ArticleSource:
Journal of Chemical Physics, American Institute of Physics Inc., Volume 148, Issue 13, Number 13, p.134104 (2018)URL:
http://doi.org/10.1063/1.5020442Keywords:
Catalysis, Catalytic reactions, Concentration fields, Differential equations, Fluid velocities, Langevin equation, Mechanochemical couplings, Molecular fluctuation, Reciprocal relations, Stochastic motion, Stochastic systems, Surface reactionsAbstract:
<p>The propulsion of active particles by self-diffusiophoresis is driven by asymmetric catalytic reactions on the particle surface that generate a mechanochemical coupling between the fluid velocity and the concentration fields of fuel and product in the surrounding solution. Because of thermal and molecular fluctuations in the solution, the motion of micrometric or submicrometric active particles is stochastic. Coupled Langevin equations describing the translation, rotation, and reaction of such active particles are deduced from fluctuating chemohydrodynamics and fluctuating boundary conditions at the interface between the fluid and the particle. These equations are consistent with microreversibility and the Onsager-Casimir reciprocal relations between affinities and currents and provide a thermodynamically consistent basis for the investigation of the dynamics of active particles propelled by diffusiophoretic mechanisms.</p>
