Experimental investigation of biomimetic propulsion through a scaled up branched flagellated artificial nanoswimmer

Abstract

Locomotion of bacteria in fluid at small scale is accomplished by cilia and flagella present on its surface. In the present study, existence of cilia on Paramecium surface is mimicked to design scaled-up swimmer rather than utilising its biological function. In the present study, the branches (cilia) on flagella (Paramecium) is employed for designing of tail of an artificial nanoswimmer and experiments are performed at scaled-up level in silicon oil medium to maintain low Reynolds number. The effects of branches on generation of thrust force are investigated by fabricating the branched flagella using flexible polydimethylsiloxane biocompatible material suitable for human body and biological applications. The resulting data are quantitatively compared through statistical analysis. In the present research work, various designs of branched flagellated swimmer are fabricated by varying the number of branches and spacing between branches. Enhancement in thrust force is observed approximately 24% when number of branches is increased from 8 to 28. Therefore, it is concluded that branches on flagella play significant role in enhancement of thrust force for propelling nanoswimmer. Spacing between 8 branches flagella is also varied from 5 to 15 mm and percentage increase in thrust force is observed as 8.1%.