https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-022-00726-z
Review
Surfing of particles and droplets on the free surface of a liquid: a review
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, 721302, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Received:
12
August
2022
Accepted:
5
November
2022
Published online:
9
December
2022
Active systems have been a matter of great interest across various scientific disciplines owing to the host of potential applications. While bulk active matter systems have received a great deal of attention, the active matter’s behavior in a fluid–fluid interface is equally intriguing and essential. In this particular review, we study the interactions of such active matter at the interface of two fluids, for example, air and water. The associated motion is termed as surfing, as opposed to swimming which is essentially a bulk phenomenon. We discuss the various aspects of surfing which are caused by an imbalance of different stresses arising from a host of causes like surface tension, temperature, heterogeneity of the interface, unbalanced chemical reactions, surface acoustic waves, etc. We study the division, fusion, and coalescence of liquid drops under the influence of various gradients. Furthermore, we describe in detail the motion of particles in the presence of an externally applied uniform electric as well as a magnetic field. We also discuss the fundamental structure, various methods of synthesization, dynamics, and critical applications of half-coated self-propelled active Janus particles.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.