Aggregation of self-propelled colloidal rods near confining walls.
The nonequilibrium collective behavior of self-propelled colloidal rods in a confining channel is studied using Brownian dynamics simulations and dynamical density functional theory. We observe an aggregation process in which rods self-organize into transiently jammed clusters at the channel walls. In the early stage of the process, fast-growing hedgehoglike clusters are formed which are largely immobile. At later stages, most of these clusters dissolve and mobilize into nematized aggregates sliding past the walls.
Institut für Theoretische Physik II: Weiche Materie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
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