Cargo transportation using an active polymer

Abstract

One of the fundamental goals of bioinspired synthetic systems is to achieve enhanced and controlled transport. Here, we demonstrate the transport of a colloidal cargo with an active filamentous engine. We explore the efficiency of the directional transport of the colloidal cargo by attaching it either at the front (pushing) or at the back (pulling) of the filament. The filament is chemo-mechanically active and acquires the activity by attaching chemically active beads that provide local tangential force along the chain. The effect of the size and location of the load, activity, and bending rigidity is comprehensively explored. We observe a transition from directional to rotational motion for the pushing load filament, whereas no such transition is observed for the filament pulling the load. The transition between different states is characterized using structural properties, such as the radius of gyration, order parameter, and tangent–tangent correlation. With the help of dynamical properties, we show that the modes of propulsion and their efficiency is different for pushing and pulling, which depend on the load size.