Plausible driving forces in elliptic droplet self-propulsion

Inoue, Yuhei*; Nonoyamz, Tomonobu*; Kang, Z.; Yabunaka, Shunsuke; Tsugawa, Satoru

Particles that self-propel owing to changes in their own internal state are called self-propelled particles and are driven by the Marangoni effect caused by concentration and/or temperature gradients. As the propulsion speed increases, they become elliptically shaped. However, the driving forces behind this phenomenon are still not completely understood. Therefore, we used a numerical method to confirm whether elliptical deformation actually occurred in the self-propulsion of a droplet, and quantitatively confirmed how the surface tension of the droplet changed. As a result, we confirmed that the second mode of the surface tension was the driving force of the contour of the droplet. Furthermore, the competing combination of the fluid pressure gradient and Korteweg force associated with the reacting molecules was the actual driving force of the fluid that induced a self-organized flow.