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Moncho-Jordá A, Groh S, Dzubiella J. External field-driven property localization in liquids of responsive macromolecules. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:024904. [PMID: 38189617 DOI: 10.1063/5.0177933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
We explore theoretically the effects of external potentials on the spatial distribution of particle properties in a liquid of explicitly responsive macromolecules. In particular, we focus on the bistable particle size as a coarse-grained internal degree of freedom (DoF, or "property"), σ, that moves in a bimodal energy landscape, in order to model the response of a state-switching (big-to-small) macromolecular liquid to external stimuli. We employ a mean-field density functional theory (DFT) that provides the full inhomogeneous equilibrium distributions of a one-component model system of responsive colloids (RCs) interacting with a Gaussian pair potential. For systems confined between two parallel hard walls, we observe and rationalize a significant localization of the big particle state close to the walls, with pressures described by an exact RC wall theorem. Application of more complex external potentials, such as linear (gravitational), osmotic, and Hamaker potentials, promotes even stronger particle size segregation, in which macromolecules of different size are localized in different spatial regions. Importantly, we demonstrate how the degree of responsiveness of the particle size and its coupling to the external potential tune the position-dependent size distribution. The DFT predictions are corroborated by Brownian dynamics simulations. Our study highlights the fact that particle responsiveness can be used to localize liquid properties and therefore helps to control the property- and position-dependent function of macromolecules, e.g., in biomedical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arturo Moncho-Jordá
- Department of Applied Physics, University de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva S/N, 18071 Granada, Spain
- Institute Carlos I for Theoretical and Computational Physics, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva S/N, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Sebastien Groh
- Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder Straße 3, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Joachim Dzubiella
- Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder Straße 3, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence livMatS @ FIT - Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität 6 Freiburg, D-79110 Freiburg, Germany
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2
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Alston H, Cocconi L, Bertrand T. Irreversibility across a Nonreciprocal PT-Symmetry-Breaking Phase Transition. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2023; 131:258301. [PMID: 38181344 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.131.258301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Nonreciprocal interactions are commonplace in continuum-level descriptions of both biological and synthetic active matter, yet studies addressing their implications for time reversibility have so far been limited to microscopic models. Here, we derive a general expression for the average rate of informational entropy production in the most generic mixture of conserved phase fields with nonreciprocal couplings and additive conservative noise. For the particular case of a binary system with Cahn-Hilliard dynamics augmented by nonreciprocal cross-diffusion terms, we observe a nontrivial scaling of the entropy production rate across a parity-time symmetry breaking phase transition. We derive a closed-form analytic expression in the weak-noise regime for the entropy production rate due to the emergence of a macroscopic dynamic phase, showing it can be written in terms of the global polar order parameter, a measure of parity-time symmetry breaking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henry Alston
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Luca Cocconi
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Thibault Bertrand
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
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Fernandez-Rodriguez MA, Orozco-Barrera S, Sun W, Gámez F, Caro C, García-Martín ML, Rica RA. Hot Brownian Motion of Thermoresponsive Microgels in Optical Tweezers Shows Discontinuous Volume Phase Transition and Bistability. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2023; 19:e2301653. [PMID: 37158287 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202301653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Microgels are soft microparticles that often exhibit thermoresponsiveness and feature a transformation at a critical temperature, referred to as the volume phase transition temperature. Whether this transformation occurs as a smooth or as a discontinuous one is still a matter of debate. This question can be addressed by studying individual microgels trapped in optical tweezers. For this aim, composite particles are obtained by decorating Poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (pNIPAM) microgels with iron oxide nanocubes. These composites become self-heating when illuminated by the infrared trapping laser, performing hot Brownian motion within the trap. Above a certain laser power, a single decorated microgel features a volume phase transition that is discontinuous, while the usual continuous sigmoidal-like dependence is recovered after averaging over different microgels. The collective sigmoidal behavior enables the application of a power-to-temperature calibration and provides the effective drag coefficient of the self-heating microgels, thus establishing these composite particles as potential micro-thermometers and micro-heaters. Moreover, the self-heating microgels also exhibit an unexpected and intriguing bistability behavior above the critical temperature, probably due to partial collapses of the microgel. These results set the stage for further studies and the development of applications based on the hot Brownian motion of soft particles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Angel Fernandez-Rodriguez
- Universidad de Granada, Nanoparticles Trapping Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Campus de Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
- Laboratory of Surface and Interface Physics, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
- Research Unit Modeling Nature (MNat), Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Sergio Orozco-Barrera
- Universidad de Granada, Nanoparticles Trapping Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Campus de Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Wei Sun
- Universidad de Granada, Nanoparticles Trapping Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Campus de Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
- Department of Physics, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, 066004, China
| | - Francisco Gámez
- Universidad de Granada, Nanoparticles Trapping Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Campus de Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | - Carlos Caro
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain
| | - María L García-Martín
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Bioméadica de Málaga y Plataforma en Nanomedicina (IBIMA Plataforma BIONAND), C/ Severo Ochoa, 35, 29590, Málaga, Spain
- Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials & Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Raúl Alberto Rica
- Universidad de Granada, Nanoparticles Trapping Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Campus de Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain
- Research Unit Modeling Nature (MNat), Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
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Teboul V. Dynamic phase transition induced by active molecules in a supercooled liquid. Phys Rev E 2023; 108:024605. [PMID: 37723732 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.108.024605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to use active particles to investigate the effect of facilitation on supercooled liquids. To this end we examine the behavior of a model supercooled liquid that is doped with a mixture of active particles and slowed particles. To simulate the facilitation mechanism, the activated particles are subjected to a force that follows the mobility of their most mobile neighboring molecule, while the slowed particles experience a friction force. Upon activation, we observe a fluidization of the entire medium along with a significant increase in dynamic heterogeneity. This effect is reminiscent of the fluidization observed experimentally when introducing molecular motors into soft materials. Interestingly, when the characteristic time τ_{μ}, used to define the mobility in the facilitation mechanism, matches the physical time t^{*} that characterizes the spontaneous cooperativity of the material, we observe a phase transition accompanied by structural aggregation of the active molecules. This transition is characterized by a sharp increase in fluidization and dynamic heterogeneity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Teboul
- Laboratoire de Photonique d'Angers EA 4464, Université d'Angers, Physics Department, 2 Bd Lavoisier, 49045 Angers, France
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Moncho-Jordá A, Göth N, Dzubiella J. Liquid structure of bistable responsive macromolecules using mean-field density-functional theory. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:2832-2846. [PMID: 37000605 DOI: 10.1039/d2sm01523d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Macromolecular crowding typically applies to biomolecular and polymer-based systems in which the individual particles often feature a two-state folded/unfolded or coil-to-globule transition, such as found for proteins and peptides, DNA and RNA, or supramolecular polymers. Here, we employ a mean-field density functional theory (DFT) of a model of soft and bistable responsive colloids (RCs) in which the size of the macromolecule is explicitly resolved as a degree of freedom living in a bimodal 'Landau' energy landscape (exhibiting big and small states), thus directly responding to the crowding environment. Using this RC-DFT we study the effects of self-crowding on the liquid bulk structure and thermodynamics for different energy barriers and softnesses of the bimodal energy landscape, in conditions close to the coil-to-globule transition. We find substantial crowding effects on the internal distributions, a complex polydispersity behavior, and quasi-universal compression curves for increasing (generalized) packing fractions. Moreover, we uncover distinct signatures of bimodal versus unimodal behavior in the particle compression. Finally, the analysis of the pair structure - derived from the test particle route - reveals that the microstructure of the liquid is quite inhomogeneous due to local depletion effects, tuneable by particle softness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arturo Moncho-Jordá
- Institute Carlos I for Theoretical and Computational Physics, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva S/N, 18071 Granada, Spain.
- Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva S/N, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Nils Göth
- Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder Straße 3, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
| | - Joachim Dzubiella
- Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder Straße 3, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
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Te Vrugt M, Wittkowski R. Perspective: New directions in dynamical density functional theory. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONDENSED MATTER : AN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS JOURNAL 2022; 35:041501. [PMID: 35917827 DOI: 10.1088/1361-648x/ac8633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Classical dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) has become one of the central modeling approaches in nonequilibrium soft matter physics. Recent years have seen the emergence of novel and interesting fields of application for DDFT. In particular, there has been a remarkable growth in the amount of work related to chemistry. Moreover, DDFT has stimulated research on other theories such as phase field crystal models and power functional theory. In this perspective, we summarize the latest developments in the field of DDFT and discuss a variety of possible directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Te Vrugt
- Institut für Theoretische Physik, Center for Soft Nanoscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Raphael Wittkowski
- Institut für Theoretische Physik, Center for Soft Nanoscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
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Göth N, Baul U, Dzubiella J. Active responsive colloids driven by intrinsic dichotomous noise. Phys Rev E 2022; 106:064611. [PMID: 36671078 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.106.064611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
We study the influence of intrinsic noise on the structure and dynamics of responsive colloids (RCs), which actively change their size and mutual interactions. The colloidal size is explicitly resolved in our RC model as an internal degree of freedom (DOF) in addition to the particle translation. A Hertzian pair potential between the RCs leads to repulsion and shrinking of the particles, resulting in an explicit responsiveness of the system to self-crowding. To render the colloids active, their size is internally driven by a dichotomous noise, randomly switching ("breathing") between growing and shrinking states with a predefined rate, as motivated by recent experiments on synthetic active colloids. The polydispersity of this dichotomous active responsive colloid (D-ARC) model can be tuned by the parameters of the noise. Utilizing stochastic computer simulations, we study crowding effects on the spatial distributions, relaxation times, and self-diffusion of dense suspensions of the D-ARCs. We find a substantial influence of the "built-in" intrinsic noise on the system's behavior, in particular, transitions from unimodal to bimodal size distributions for an increasing colloid density as well as intrinsic noise-modified diffusive translational dynamics. We conclude that controlling the noise of internal DOFs of a macromolecule or cell is a powerful tool for active colloidal materials to enable autonomous changes in the system's collective structure and dynamics towards the adaptation of macroscopic properties to external perturbations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nils Göth
- Applied Theoretical Physics-Computational Physics, Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Upayan Baul
- Applied Theoretical Physics-Computational Physics, Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Joachim Dzubiella
- Applied Theoretical Physics-Computational Physics, Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence livMatS @ FIT-Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79110 Freiburg, Germany
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Alston H, Parry AO, Voituriez R, Bertrand T. Intermittent attractive interactions lead to microphase separation in nonmotile active matter. Phys Rev E 2022; 106:034603. [PMID: 36266896 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.106.034603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Nonmotile active matter exhibits a wide range of nonequilibrium collective phenomena yet examples are crucially lacking in the literature. We present a microscopic model inspired by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis in which diffusive agents feel intermittent attractive forces. Through a formal coarse-graining procedure, we show that this truly scalar model of active matter exhibits the time-reversal-symmetry breaking terms defining the Active Model B+ class. In particular, we confirm the presence of microphase separation by solving the kinetic equations numerically. We show that the switching rate controlling the interactions provides a regulation mechanism tuning the typical cluster size, e.g., in populations of bacteria interacting via type IV pili.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henry Alston
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, 180 Queen's Gate, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew O Parry
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, 180 Queen's Gate, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom
| | - Raphaël Voituriez
- Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, UMR 7600 CNRS/UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France
- Laboratoire Jean Perrin, UMR 8237 CNRS/UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France
| | - Thibault Bertrand
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, 180 Queen's Gate, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom
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Gaindrik P, Baul U, Dzubiella J. Active responsive colloids coupled to different thermostats. Phys Rev E 2022; 106:014613. [PMID: 35974513 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.106.014613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
We introduce a model of active responsive colloids (ARCs) in which an internal degree of freedom (DoF) of a single colloidal particle is "activated" by coupling it to a different thermostat than for the translational DoFs. As for the responsive internal DoF, we consider specifically the size (diameter) of the spherical particles, which is confined by a harmonic parent potential being either entropic or energetic in nature. The ARCs interact via a repulsive Hertzian pair potential, appropriate to model hydrogels or elastic colloids, and are studied for various densities using Brownian dynamics simulations. We tune the internal activity in the nonequilibrium steady state by scanning through a wide range of internal temperatures, both smaller ("colder") and larger ("hotter") than the translational temperature. The results show a rich and intriguing behavior for the emergent property distributions, colloidal pair structure, and the diffusive translational dynamics controlled by the internal activity, substantially depending on whether the internal DoF moves in an entropic or energetic potential. We discuss theoretical thermal limits and phenomenological models which can explain some of the nonequilibrium trends qualitatively. Our study indicates that particle dynamical polydispersity as well as the structure and dynamics of dense macromolecular suspensions can be vastly tuned by internal activity in terms of internal "hot" or "cold" fluctuating states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Polina Gaindrik
- Applied Theoretical Physics-Computational Physics, Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Upayan Baul
- Applied Theoretical Physics-Computational Physics, Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Joachim Dzubiella
- Applied Theoretical Physics-Computational Physics, Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence livMatS @ FIT-Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, D-79110 Freiburg, Germany
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Goswami K, Chakrabarti R. Motion of an active particle with dynamical disorder. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:2332-2345. [PMID: 35244134 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm01816g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
We propose a model for investigating the motion of a single active particle in a heterogeneous environment where the heterogeneity may arise due to crowding, conformational fluctuations and/or slow rearrangement of the surroundings. Describing the active particle in terms of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process (OUP) and incorporating heterogeneity in a thermal bath using two separate models, namely "diffusing diffusivity" and "switching diffusion", we explore the essential dynamical properties of the particle for its one-dimensional motion. In addition, we show how the dynamical behavior is controlled by dynamical variables associated with active noise such as strength and persistence time. Our model is relevant in the context of single particle dynamics in a crowded environment, driven by activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koushik Goswami
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Powai 400076, India.
| | - Rajarshi Chakrabarti
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Powai 400076, India.
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