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Theoretical Perspectives on Natural and Artificial Micro-swimmers

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Abstract

The observations of microorganisms revealed how they swim. As inspired by them, studies on artificial micro-robots with various actuation mechanisms have been thriving. To elucidate the essential concepts in understanding the dynamic behaviors of natural and artificial micro-swimmers—so as to control the latter in future applications, in this paper, we summarize the historical achievements and describe our theoretical perspectives. We first introduce the studies on microorganisms and their propulsion mechanisms. After reviewing the basic principles and the development of the understanding of them, we take the flagellated micro-swimmers as an example to elaborate on the theories of their locomotion. We review the progress in actuation strategies of artificial flagellated micro-swimmers and then propose two possible strategies to realize the turning of a flagellated micro-swimmer—the key step toward steerability through remote fields. Finally, we describe the inadequacies of the investigations on this topic and our perspectives on future developments.

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Acknowledgements

The first author is supported by the General Research Fund of Hong Kong RGC (Grant No. 15213619). The second author is supported by the postdoctoral scheme of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Project ID: P0034926). The studies presented in this work are supported by the NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme (RGC: \({N}\_{PolyU519/19}\) and NSFC: 51961160729). The authors are grateful for these financial supports.

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  1. Research Center for Fluid-Structure Interactions, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Konssg Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Jinan Liu, Yiqiang Fu & Haihui Ruan

  2. State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiongjun Liu

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The manuscript was written based on the contributions made by all authors (JL, YF, XL and HR): XL and HR devised the project, the main conceptual ideas, and proof outline. JL worked out almost all of the technical details and performed most of the writing. YF and HR were involved in all discussions and performed the writing. HR is the corresponding author.

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Correspondence to Haihui Ruan.

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Liu, J., Fu, Y., Liu, X. et al. Theoretical Perspectives on Natural and Artificial Micro-swimmers. Acta Mech. Solida Sin. 34, 783–809 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10338-021-00260-w

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