Chemical Physics Theory Group, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada.
J Chem Phys. 2011 Jul 14;135(2):024509. doi: 10.1063/1.3607408.
Synthetic chemically powered nanomotors often rely on the environment for their fuel supply. The propulsion properties of such motors can be altered if the environment in which they move is chemically active. The dynamical properties of sphere dimer motors, composed of linked catalytic and noncatalytic monomers, are investigated in active media. Chemical reactions occur at the catalytic monomer and the reactant or product of this reaction is involved in cubic autocatalytic or linear reactions that take place in the bulk phase environment. For these reactions, as the bulk phase reaction rates increase, the motor propulsion velocity decreases. For the cubic autocatalytic reaction, this net effect arises from a competition between a reduction of the nonequilibrium concentration gradient that leads to smaller velocity and the generation of fuel in the environment that tends to increase the motor propulsion. The role played by detailed balance in determining the form of the concentration gradient in the motor vicinity in the active medium is studied. Simulations are carried out using reactive multiparticle collision dynamics and compared with theoretical models to obtain further insight into sphere dimer dynamics in active media.
合成化学动力纳米马达通常依赖环境作为其燃料供应。如果它们移动的环境具有化学活性，那么这些马达的推进特性就会发生变化。在活性介质中研究了由连接的催化和非催化单体组成的球体二聚体马达的动力学特性。化学反应发生在催化单体上，该反应的反应物或产物参与在本体相环境中发生的立方自催化或线性反应。对于这些反应，随着本体相反应速率的增加，马达推进速度降低。对于立方自催化反应，这种净效应源于导致速度减小的非平衡浓度梯度的减小与环境中燃料的产生之间的竞争，后者倾向于增加马达的推进。研究了在活性介质中确定马达附近浓度梯度形式的详细平衡所起的作用。使用反应多粒子碰撞动力学进行了模拟，并与理论模型进行了比较，以深入了解活性介质中球体二聚体的动力学。
