The term active fluids refers to motions that are created by transforming energy from the surroundings into directed motion. There are many examples, both natural and synthetic, including individual swimming bacteria or motile cells, drops and bubbles that move owing to surface stresses (so-called Marangoni motions), and chemical- or optical-driven colloids. Investigations into active fluids provide new insights into non-equilibrium systems, have the potential for novel applications, and open new directions in physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. This book provides an expert introduction to active fluids systems, covering simple to complex environments. It explains the interplay of chemical processes and hydrodynamics, including the roles of mechanical and rheological properties across active fluids, with reference to experiments, theory, and simulations. These concepts are discussed for a variety of scenarios, such as the trajectories of microswimmers, cell crawling and fluid stirring, and apply to collective behaviours of dense suspensions and active gels. Emerging avenues of research are highlighted, ranging from the role of active processes for biological functions to programmable active materials, showcasing the exciting potential of this rapidly-evolving research field.

Collective Behavior of Magnetic Micro/Nanorobots: Control, Imaging, and Applications reviews recent advances in the design and construction of magnetic collective micro/nanorobot systems, and promotes the bridging of the gap between their theoretical investigation and practical applications. By summarizing the recent progress in control, imaging, and biomedical applications of collective micro/nanorobots, the authors show the big picture of micro/nanorobotics and the roadmap of collective micro/nanorobots. They then discuss the control, imaging, and biomedical applications of collective micro/nanorobots, respectively, demonstrating the state-of-the-art techniques and ideas for designing systems of collective micro/nanorobots that can help researchers have a better understanding and further stimulate the development of such an exciting field. This book is suitable for scientists, engineers, and students involved in the study of robotics, control, materials, and mechanical/electrical engineering.

What do bird flocks, bacterial swarms, cell tissues, and cytoskeletal fluids have in common? They are all examples of active matter. This book explores how scientists in various disciplines, from physics to biology, have collated a solid corpus of experimental designs and theories during the last two decades to decipher active systems. The book addresses, from a multidisciplinary viewpoint, the field of active matter at a colloidal scale. Concepts, experiments, and theoretical models are put side by side to fully illuminate the subtilities of active systems. A large variety of subjects, from microswimmers or driven colloids to self-organized active fluids, are analysed within a unified perspective. Generic collective effects of self-propelled or driven colloids, such as motility-induced flocking, and new paradigms, such as the celebrated concept of active nematics in reconstituted protein-based fluids, are discussed using well-known experimental scenarios and recognized theories. Topics are covered with rigor and in a self-consistent way, reaching both practitioners and newcomers to the field. The diversity of topics and conceptual challenges in active matter have long hampered the chance to explore the field with a general perspective. This monograph, the first single-authored title on active matter, is intended to fill this gap by bridging disparate experimental and theoretical interests from colloidal soft matter to cell biophysics.

This revised edition continues to provide the most approachable introduction to the structure, characteristics, and everyday applications of soft matter. It begins with a substantially revised overview of the underlying physics and chemistry common to soft materials. Subsequent chapters comprehensively address the different classes of soft materials, from liquid crystals to surfactants, polymers, colloids, and biomaterials, with vivid, full-color illustrations throughout. There are new worked examples throughout, new problems, some deeper mathematical treatment, and new sections on key topics such as diffusion, active matter, liquid crystal defects, surfactant phases and more. • Introduces the science of soft materials, experimental methods used in their study, and wide-ranging applications in everyday life. • Provides brand new worked examples throughout, in addition to expanded chapter problem sets and an updated glossary. • Includes expanded mathematical content and substantially revised introductory chapters. This book will provide a comprehensive introductory resource to both undergraduate and graduate students discovering soft materials for the first time and is aimed at students with an introductory college background in physics, chemistry or materials science.

This book covers the science of interfaces between an aqueous phase and a solid, another liquid or a gaseous phase, starting from the basic physical chemistry all the way to state-of-the-art research developments. Both experimental and theoretical methods are treated thanks to the contributions of a distinguished list of authors who are all active researchers in their respective fields. The properties of these interfaces are crucial for a wide variety of processes, products and biological systems and functions, such as the formulation of personal care and food products, paints and coatings, microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip applications, cell membranes, and lung surfactants. Accordingly, research and expertise on the subject are spread over a broad range of academic disciplines and industrial laboratories. This book brings together knowledge from these different places with the aim of fostering education, collaborations and research progress.