(489d) Self-Assembly of Active Microcrystallites and Spinning Free Janus Particles

Active colloidal microcrystallites are introduced capable of generating flow patterns around or through their porous network. The generated flow drags nearby free Janus microspheres toward the microcrystallite and create self-assembled active clusters with multiple moving parts. The translational movement of free Janus particles transitions to continuous spinning. Weight-anisotropy of a Janus particle leads to a time-varying angular frequency and the gravitropic spontaneous realignment of the rotational axis to a preferential direction. The dynamics of the self-assembled active structure remains stable over long time periods, despite being subjected to significant noise, for example, Brownian forces.