Transport of nanodimers through chemical microchip

We propose a new microfluid chip for transporting micro and nano particles. The device consists of chemical stripe pathways full of fuel species, which can be realized in experiments by chemical surface reactions that form spatiotemporal patterns. A mesoscopic model is constructed to simulate the transport dynamics of nanodimers passing through the chip. It is found that the increases of the volume fraction and radius of the dimer both decrease the first reach time although the underlying mechanisms are different: the volume fraction affects the probability of touching and entering the chip while the radius determines the self-propulsion within the chip. The transport efficiency is influenced by the size of the particles. (paper)