Elismaili Mohammed, Hamze Samah, Xu Hong, Gonzalez-Rodriguez David
Université de Lorraine, LCP-A2MC, F-57000, Metz, France.
Eur Phys J E Soft Matter. 2020 Mar 9;43(3):18. doi: 10.1140/epje/i2020-11942-3.
We study a two-dimensional binary mixture of active and passive colloids as an idealized model of an hybrid aggregate of living cells and inert particles. We perform molecular dynamics simulations of this system using two different thermostats, and we systematically investigate the effect of varying these two effective temperatures on the system behavior, as characterized by its density, structure and thermoelastic properties. Our results indicate that the presence of active colloids shifts the mixture towards the liquid state and renders it more deformable. Such system softening and melting effects due to the addition of active particles are larger than expected from a linear combination of temperatures of the active and passive components. This heightened effect becomes more pronounced as the effective temperature difference between the two components becomes larger. The binary mixture remains homogeneous for moderate colloidal activity, but segregation arises for large effective temperature difference. Our results provide insights to guide future experimental hybrid aggregate studies with promising biomedical applications.
我们研究了活性胶体与惰性胶体的二维二元混合物，将其作为活细胞与惰性粒子混合聚集体的理想化模型。我们使用两种不同的恒温器对该系统进行分子动力学模拟，并系统地研究了改变这两个有效温度对系统行为的影响，这些行为通过其密度、结构和热弹性性质来表征。我们的结果表明，活性胶体的存在使混合物向液态转变，并使其更易变形。由于添加活性粒子而产生的这种系统软化和熔化效应比活性和惰性组分温度的线性组合所预期的要大。随着两个组分之间有效温度差的增大，这种增强效应变得更加明显。对于适度的胶体活性，二元混合物保持均匀，但对于较大的有效温度差则会出现分离。我们的结果为指导未来具有前景的生物医学应用的混合聚集体实验研究提供了见解。
