Influence of PEG on the clustering of active Janus colloids

Micrometer scale “colloidal” particles that propel in a deterministic fashion in response to local environmental cues are useful analogs to self-propelling entities found in nature. Both natural and synthetic active colloidal systems are often near boundaries or are located in crowded environments. Herein, we describe experiments in which we measured the influence of hydrogen peroxide concentration and dispersed polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the clustering behavior of 5 µm catalytic active Janus particles at low concentration. We found the extent to which clustering occurred in ensembles of active Janus particles grew with hydrogen peroxide concentration in the absence of PEG. Once PEG was added, clustering was slightly enhanced at low PEG volume fractions, but was reduced at higher PEG volumes fractions. The region in which clustering was mitigated at higher PEG volume fractions corresponded to the region in which propulsion was previously found to be quenched. Complementary agent based simulations showed that clustering grew with nominal speed. These data support the hypothesis that growth of living crystals is enhanced with increases in propulsion speed, but the addition of PEG will tend to mitigate cluster formation as a consequence of quenched propulsion at these conditions.