Quantitative simulations of ratchet potential in a dusty plasma ratchet

Using a dusty plasma ratchet, one can realize the rectification of charged dust particle in a plasma. To obtain the ratchet potential dominating the rectification, here, we perform quantitative simulations based on a two-dimensional fluid model of capacitively coupled plasma. Plasma parameters are firstly calculated in two typical cross sections of the dusty plasma ratchet which cut vertically the saw channel at different azimuthal positions. The balance positions of charged dust particle in the two cross sections then can be found exactly. The electric potentials at the two balance positions have different values. Using interpolation in term of a double-sine function from previous experimental measurement, an asymmetrical ratchet potential along the saw channel is finally obtained. The asymmetrical orientation of the ratchet potential depends on discharge conditions. Quantitative simulations further reproduce our previous experimental phenomena such as the rectification of dust particle in the dusty plasma ratchet.

Ionized Gas Thermoelectric Generator: Theoretical Evaluation and Efficiency Estimation

The novel Ionized Gas Thermoelectric Generator (IG-TEG) system that has been studied theoretically showing capabilities to continually extracting energy from the thermal energy of the ambient air, at low temperatures within the standard room temperature and below. This system does not need a temperature gradient in order to work, unlike the other TEGs that use Seebeck effect, and therefore this new system can be utilized for cooling purposes, by extracting energy instead of wasting energy in compressing the gas for cooling. This novel system was designed based on Static Ratchet Potential (SRP), which is known as a spatially asymmetric electric potential produced by an array of positive and negative electrodes. The ratchet potential produces electrical current from random Brownian Motion of charged particles that are driven by thermal energy. Ratchet potential was studied and investigated by several researches in the fields of sensing and energy harvesting. The main ratchet potential system parameter is the particles transportation, this parameter was studied under the condition of flashing ratchet potentials, and was analyzed based on several methods. In this study, a different approach is pursued to estimate particles transportation, by evaluating the charged particles distribution, and applying the other conditions of the SRP.

Directional transport of active particles in the two-dimensional asymmetric ratchet potential field

Relationship between matter and energy transport has always been one of the key issues that researchers have been searching for in statistical physics and complexity science. In many transport phenomena, the active transport with zero or even no external force in life activities has attracted extensive attention of scholars. As a special kind of active particles, active Brownian particles have received the attention of physicists and biophysicists. These active particles are natural or artificially designed particles, whose scale is in the order of micrometer or nanometer. Different from the traditional passive Brownian particles driven by the equilibrium heat wave generated by the random collision of the surrounding fluid molecules, active Brownian particles can extract energy from their own environment to drive their own motion. Here, directional transport process of active particles in the two-dimensional asymmetric ratchet potential field is analyzed. Both the overdamped medium and the critically damped one are emphasized. Langevin equations with inertia term are introduced to describe the impacts of the self-driven force, friction coefficient, etc. on the directional motion. Then, the average particle speed is found. Thereafter, the relationships between the speed and critical parameters like self-driven force, friction coefficient, etc. are obtained. Two different dynamical domination mechanisms are found, which are expressed as the random collision domination and the self-driven force domination, respectively. Furthermore, the random collision domination is found to correspond to the much higher peak of the two-dimensional asymmetric Brownian rachet potential field, while the self-driven force domination is found to correspond to the much lower peak of the introduced potential. The study will be helpful for discovering the stochastic thermodynamics mechanisms in nonlinear dynamics and nonlinear properties of such multibody interaction system in statistical physics and complex system science.

A Brownian ratchet model explains the biased sidestepping movement of single-headed kinesin-3 KIF1A

The kinesin-3 motor KIF1A is involved in long-ranged axonal transport in neurons. In order to ensure vesicular delivery, motors need to navigate the microtubule lattice and overcome possible roadblocks along the way. The single-headed form of KIF1A is a highly diffusive motor that has been shown to be a prototype of Brownian motor by virtue of a weakly-bound diffusive state to the microtubule. Recently, groups of single-headed KIF1A motors were found to be able to sidestep along the microtubule lattice, creating left-handed helical membrane tubes when pulling on giant unilamellar vesicles in vitro. A possible hypothesis is that the diffusive state enables the motor to explore the microtubule lattice and switch protofilaments, leading to a left-handed helical motion. Here we study microtubule rotation driven by single-headed KIF1A motors using fluorescene-interference contrast (FLIC) microscopy. We find an average rotational pitch of ≃ 1.4 μm which is remarkably robust to changes in the gliding velocity, ATP concentration and motor density. Our experimental results are compared to stochastic simulations of Brownian motors moving on a two-dimensional continuum ratchet potential, which quantitatively agree with the FLIC experiments. We find that single-headed KIF1A sidestepping can be explained as a consequence of the intrinsic handedness and polarity of the microtubule lattice in combination with the diffusive mechanochemical cycle of the motor.