Self-Thermoelectrophoresis in Colloidal Swimmers

Statistical Physics and Complexity Group meeting

Self-Thermoelectrophoresis in Colloidal Swimmers

  • Event time: 11:30am until 12:30pm
  • Event date: 18th October 2017
  • Speaker: Joost de Graaf (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
  • Location: Room 2511,

Event details

In this talk, I will present my latest research into the motion of colloidal particles by the thermoelectrophoretic effect. The governing equations are discussed and the two limits, that of the thick and thin screening layer, will be explore using a perturbation analysis. In the thin screening limit, I find that the self-thermoelectrophoretic speed is independent of the salt concentration when the swimmer is a conductor. While in the thick screening-layer limit, the speed also goes to a constant, which is related to thermodielectrophoresis. Comparison to numerical calculations performed by Dr. Samin of Utrecht University shows excellent agreement for conducting surfaces.