Island Hopping of active colloids

Abstract: Individual self-propelled colloidal particles, like active Brownian particles (ABP) or run-and-tumble swimmers (RT), exhibit characteristic and well-known motion patterns. However, their interaction with obstacles remains an open and important problem. We here investigate the two-dimensional motion of silica-gold Janus particles (JP) actuated by AC electric fields and suspended and cruising through silica particles organized in rafts by mutual phoretic attraction. A typical island contains dozens of particles. The JP travels straight in obstacle-free regions and reorients systematically upon approaching an island. As an underlying mechanism, we tentatively propose a hydrodynamic torque exerted by the solvent flow towards the islands on the JP local flow field, leading to an alignment of respective solvent flow directions. This systematic behavior is in contrast with the reorientation observed for free active Brownian particles and run-and-tumble microswimmers.