Eur. Phys. J. E (2017) 40: 30
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2017-11518-4

Regular Article

Rotational motion of dimers of Janus particles

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
² IV. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

^* e-mail: majee@is.mpg.de

Received: 24 November 2016
Accepted: 24 February 2017
Published online: 21 March 2017

Abstract

We theoretically study the motion of a rigid dimer of self-propelling Janus particles. In a simple kinetic approach without hydrodynamic interactions, the dimer moves on a helical trajectory and, at the same time, it rotates about its center of mass. Inclusion of the effects of mutual advection using superposition approximation does not alter the qualitative features of the motion but merely changes the parameters of the trajectory and the angular velocity.