Phototactic behavior of self-propelled micrometer-sized oil droplets in a surfactant solution

Sho Kaneko; Kouichi Asakura; Taisuke Banno

doi:10.1039/c6cc09236e

Phototactic behavior of self-propelled micrometer-sized oil droplets in a surfactant solution

Chem Commun (Camb). 2017 Feb 14;53(14):2237-2240. doi: 10.1039/c6cc09236e.

Authors

Sho Kaneko¹, Kouichi Asakura¹, Taisuke Banno¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan. banno@applc.keio.ac.jp.

PMID: 28144652
DOI: 10.1039/c6cc09236e

Abstract

We demonstrate the phototactic behavior of self-propelled micrometer-sized oil droplets in the presence of azobenzene-containing surfactants. These droplets respond sensitively to UV light irradiation due to a variation in the interfacial tension at the droplet surface induced by the molecular conversion of the azobenzene-containing surfactants.