Publications

Stabilizing layers of colloidal dispersions or emulsions to obtain homogeneous films is a real challenge. We describe here a new kind of instability in drying films of emulsions: during evaporation of the internal phase, cracks appear between the droplets that create aggregates according to a regular pattern. We show that this pattern only appears if the emulsion is adhesive, i.e., if droplets stick together. The pattern exhibits a characteristic length which depends on the adhesion strength and film thickness. These experimental results support a model where this instability is due to the gel structure and elastic properties of adhesive emulsions. Understanding this phenomenon will allow us to get a homogeneous film or to control it to get structured materials.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c00246

Droplet-based microfluidics, using water-in-oil emulsion droplets as microreactors, is becoming a widespread method for performing assays and especially in the cell biology field. Making a simple and highly portable system for creating emulsion droplets would help to continue the popularization of such a technique. Also, the ability to emulsify all the samples would strengthen this compartimenlization technique to handle samples with limited volume. Here, we propose a strategy of droplet formation that combines a classical flow-focusing microfluidic chip, which could be commercially available, with a standard laboratory adjustable micropipette. The micropipette is used as a negative pressure generator for controlling liquid flows. In that way, emulsification does neither require any electrical power supply nor a cumbersome device and functions with small liquid volumes. Droplet formation can be easily and safely performed in places with limited space, opening a wide range of applications especially in biological laboratory environments with higher level of safety regulations, i.e., BSL-3/4. Fortunately, the present methodology that involves small fluid volumes, and thus possible time dependent flow conditions, allows to minimize dead volume while keeping drops’ size homogeneous. A physical characterization of droplet production and a model that describes the emulsion features, in terms of drop size and size distribution, are proposed for rationalizing the performances of the micropipette-powered emulsification process.

We present the principle of a fast magnetic field
enhanced colloidal agglutination assay, which is based on the
acceleration of the recognition rate between ligands and
receptors induced by magnetic forces. By applying a
homogeneous magnetic field of 20 mT for only 7 s, we detect
CRP (C-reactive protein) in human serum at a concentration as
low as 1 pM for a total cycle time of about 1 min in a prototype
analyzer. Such a short measurement time does not impair the
performances of the assay when compared to longer experiments.
The concentration range dynamic is shown to cover 3 orders of
magnitude. An analytical model of agglutination is also successfully fitting our data obtained with a short magnetic pulse.

We examine the internal structure of milk casein micelles using the contrast variation method in Small-
Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS). Experiments were performed with casein dispersions of different
origins (i.e., milk powder or fresh milk) and extended to very low q-values (
9  10^-4 °A-1), thus making
it possible to precisely determine the apparent gyration radius Rg at each contrast. From the variation of
I(q / 0) with contrast, we determine the distribution of composition of all the particles in the
dispersions. As expected, most of these particles are micelles, made of casein and calcium phosphate,
with a narrow distribution in compositions. These micelles always coexist with a very small fraction of fat
droplets, with sizes in the range of 20–400 nm. For the dispersions prepared from fresh milk, which
were purified under particularly stringent conditions, the number ratio of fat droplets to casein micelles
is as low as 1 to 106. In that case, we are able to subtract from the total intensity the contribution of the
fat droplets and in this way obtain the contribution of the micelles only. We then analyze the variation of
this contribution with contrast using the approach pioneered by H. B. Stuhrmann. We model the casein
micelle as a core–shell spherical object, in which the local scattering length density is determined by the
ratio of calcium phosphate nanoclusters to proteins. We find that models in which the shell has a lower
concentration of calcium phosphate than the core give a better agreement than models in which the
shell has a higher density than the core.

L’objectif de cette theÌ€se est la formation de capsules submillimétriques aÌ€ cœur aqueux pos- sédant une membrane fine d’hydrogel d’alginate. Ces capsules, biocompatibles, peuvent trouver des applications dans les biotechnologies. Elles sont formées par fragmentation d’un jet composé d’un cœur aqueux et d’une coque d’alginate. L’étude du co-écoulement au sein de l’injecteur a montré l’existence d’une instabilité élastique en présence de cations, souvent présents dans les milieux de culture cellulaire. L’alginate est un polyélectrolyte et les cations modifient ses propriétés viscoélastiques. Nous avons montré que cette instabilité était aÌ€ l’ori- gine d’un battement du jet composé en sortie d’extrusion. En provoquant un décentrage du cœur, l’instabilité induit une relaxation asymétrique du profil de vitesse, ce qui crée un couple qui courbe le jet. Nous avons mis en évidence cet effet en produisant des jets courbés aÌ€ partir d’une pointe biseautée. La viscosité du fluide utilisé fixe alors le degré d’asymétrie. La frag- mentation du jet est ensuite controÌ‚lée graÌ‚ce aÌ€ un actuateur piézoélectrique. Nous mesurons une décroissance de la vitesse d’onde aÌ€ la surface du jet due aux faibles valeurs du nombre de Weber, ainsi qu’une dispersion de cette vitesse qui s’amplifie. La formation de chapelets de gouttes et de faibles variations de distances entre gouttes sont aÌ€ l’origine de cette amplification. L’ajout de tensioactifs peut exacerber cet effet en induisant une tension de surface dynamique aÌ€ la surface du jet. Finalement, nous parvenons aÌ€ produire des capsules submillimétriques de taille controÌ‚lée, monodisperses, possédant une membrane fine, avec un taux d’encapsulation supérieur aÌ€ 99%.

Microfluidics has proven to be an efficient tool for making fine and calibrated emul- sion droplets. The parallelization of drop makers is required for producing large amounts. Here, we investigate the generation of emulsion drops along a series of shallow microchannels emerging in a deep one, in other words the step-emulsification process. The dynamics of a single drop maker is first characterized as a function of interfacial tension and viscosities of both phases. The characteristic time scale of drop formation, namely, the necking time that finally sets drop size, is shown to be principally governed by the outer phase viscosity to interfacial tension ratio with a minor correction linked to the viscosity ratio. The step emulsification process experi- ences a transition of fragmentation regime where both the necking time and drop size suddenly raise. This transition, that corresponds to a critical period of drop formation and thus defines a maximum production rate of small droplets, is observed to be ruled by the viscosity ratio of the two phases. When drops are produced along an array of microchannels with a cross flow of the continuous phase, a configuration comparable to a one-dimensional membrane having rectangular pores, a drop boundary layer develops along the drop generators. In the small drop regime, the local dynamics of drop formation is shown to be independent on the emulsion cross flow. Moreover, we note that the development of the drop boundary layer is even beneficial to ho- mogenize drop size along the production line. On the other hand, in the large drop regime, drop collision can trigger fragmentation and thus lead to size polydispersity.

The capacity of microfluidic technology to fabricate monodisperse emulsion droplets is well established. Parallelization of  droplet production is a prerequisite for using such an approach for making high quality materials for either fundamental or industrial applications where product quantity matters.  Here, we investigate the emulsification efficiency  of parallelized drop generators based on a flow focusing geometry when incorporating the role of partial wetting in order to make emulsion droplets with a diameter  below 10 microns. Confinement intrinsically encountered  in microsystems intensifies the role played by interfaces between liquids and solids.  We thus take advantage of partial wetting to enhance the maximum confinement accessible due to liquid flow focusing. We  compare the performances brought by partial wetting to more established routes such as  step emulsification. We show that the step configuration and the partial wetting regime are both well suited for being parallelized and thus open the way to the production of fine and calibrated emulsions for further applications. Finally, this new route of emulsification that exploits partial wetting between the fluids and the channel walls opens possibilities to the formation of substantially smaller droplets, as required in many fields of application.

Emulsions have been studied for a long time because of the richness of their related fundamental physicochemical phenomena and owing to their wide industrial applications. The development of microfluidics offers new opportunities to investigate emulsion features and behaviours. This review relates the use of microfluidic tools for probing the interfacial properties of emulsion droplets and the two main mechanisms of destabilisation, namely the coalescence of adjacent drops and the molecular transfer between neighbouring drops.

Water drops dispersed in chloroform and stabilized with phospholipids become adhesive if a bad solvent for lipids, such as silicone oil, is added to the continuous phase. In this way, two sticking drops are separated by a bilayer of phospholipids. By using microfluidic technologies, we probe the stability and properties of such membranes likewise encountered in foams or vesicles. We first establish the stability diagram of adhering drop pairs as a function of the continuous phase composition. We found two regimes of destabilization of the bilayer. The first one concerns a competition between the dynamics of adhesion and the transport of surfactants toward the interfaces that leads to a dilute surfactant coverage. The second one corresponds to a dense surface coverage where the lifetime distribution of the bilayer exponentially decreases as a signature of a nucleation process. In the stable regime, we observe the propagation of adhesion among a concentrated collection of drops. This is another remarkable illustration of the suction consequence when two close deformable objects are pulled apart. Moreover, the present experimental strategy offers a novel way to study the phase diagrams of bilayers from a single phospholipid to a mixture of phospholipids. Indeed, we detect phase transitions at a liquid−liquid interface that are ruled by the amount of bad solvent. Finally, we probe the transport of water molecules through the bilayer and show that its permeability is linked to the adhesion energy that reflects its fluidity.

Nous avons mis au point un système expérimental modèle d'adhésion spécifique entre deux surfaces fluides sur lesquelles diffusent des protéines de type ligand-récepteur. Nous avons notamment voulu relier la mesure d'une énergie d'adhésion macroscopique à son moteur microscopique, la formation de liens spécifiques. Pour mesurer une énergie macroscopique d'adhésion, nous avons utilisé des gouttelettes d'émulsion. Lorsqu'elles adhèrent, les gouttelettes se déforment. Le gain de surface permet d'accéder à l'énergie d'adhésion. Comme moteur de l'adhésion spécifique, nous avons utilisé le couple modèle streptavidine/biotine. Les gouttelettes d'émulsion sont fonctionnalisées avec ces protéines ligantes. Amenées par gravité en présence de bicouches lipidiques supportées fluides dont une fraction des lipides porte les protéines réceptrices, les gouttelettes adhèrent spécifiquement aux bicouches lipidiques. Nous avons mené une étude statique de cette adhésion. Grâce à différentes techniques de fluorescence (épifluorescence, FCS (Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy), dosages en retour) nous avons quantifié le nombre de protéines mises en jeu dans nos patches adhésifs afin de le comparer à l'énergie de déformation de la goutte. Nous avons pu observer que l'énergie d'adhésion est proportionnelle à l'énergie d'un lien. Par ailleurs, des mesures en RICM (Reflection Iterference Contrast Microscopy) nous ont permis d'étudier la dynamique de croissance du patch adhésif. Nous avons pu mettre en évidence une croissance diffusive et quasistatique de la zone de contact. En jouant sur les quantités de protéines mises en jeu ainsi que sur leur nature (longueur des liens), nous avons exploré les différentes situations statiques et dynamiques de l'adhésion dans notre système modèle. Nous avons notamment mis en évidence les effets de compressibilité des films adhésifs qui apportent de nouvelles clés pour envisager l'adhésion cellulaire.

Water-in-oil emulsion drops are formed and stabilized with phospholipids which can adhere and form a bilayer. Using microfluidics, adhesive drop pairs are then trapped and submitted to an ac electric field. We observe three distinct states as a function of the adhesion energy and the electric field intensity. The pair can be either stable, though slightly deformed, or unzip and separate, or coalesce. The frontiers between the different states directly reflect vesicle detachment forces and electroporation theories. The experimental approach that we propose for probing liquid interface wetting between monolayers allows us to finely tuned the tension in the bilayer and gives access to bilayer unzipping.

We introduce an approach for forming bilayer polymer membranes by adhesion of amphiphile-laden interfaces. This adhesion is induced by a reduction of solvent quality for the amphiphilic diblock copolymers through selective evaporation of good solvent in the solvent mixture. By combining this membrane formation mechanism with a double-emulsion-templated approach for vesicle formation, we fabricate monodisperse polymersomes that exhibit excellent membrane uniformity, and structural stability, using a method that has high encapsulation efficiency. Moreover, we also show that the technique is versatile and can be applied to different block copolymers. The ability to direct the assembly of amphiphiles into a membrane creates new opportunities to engineer the structures of vesicles on the level  of the individual bilayer leaflets.

The phase inversion that undergoes an emulsion while being sheared is a sudden phenomenon that is still puzzling. In this Letter, we report an experimental investigation on propagative coalescence by using a microfluidic device where a calibrated two-dimensional emulsion is created and destabilized. The velocity of propagation and the probability of the coalescence are reported as a function of the size and the spatial distribution of the drops, respectively. We then discuss the efficiency of this novel scenario of phase inversion and suggest that inversion can be favored by the existence of a drop size distribution.

The polymerization of actin in filaments generates forces that play a pivotal role in many cellular processes. We introduce a novel technique to determine the force-velocity relation when a few independent anchored filaments grow between magnetic colloidal particles. When a magnetic field is applied, the colloidal particles assemble into chains under controlled loading or spacing. As the filaments elongate, the beads separate, allowing the force-velocity curve to be precisely measured. In the widely accepted Brownian ratchet model, the transduced force is associated with the slowing down of the on-rate polymerization. Unexpectedly, in our experiments, filaments are shown to grow at the same rate as when they are free in solution. However, as they elongate, filaments are more confined in the interspace between beads. Higher repulsive forces result from this higher confinement, which is associated with a lower entropy. In this mechanism, the production of force is not controlled by the polymerization rate, but is a consequence of the restriction of filaments' orientational fluctuations at their attachment point.

Grâce à la microfluidique, la stabilité et les propriétés de deux types d'émulsions ont pu être sondées. Il s'agit d' émulsions non adhésives et d'émulsions adhésives. Les points importants des différentes thématiques abordées sont résumés dans les paragraphes suivants. – La déstabilisation hydrodynamique d'une émulsion : La fusion de gouttes proches est favorisée par leur séparation. En réalité les gouttes sont localement rapprochées car une dépression se crée lors de leur éloignement. Cela les oblige à former localement des bourgeons qui les rendent plus proches. – La déstabilisation d'une émulsion par un champ électrique : L'état de coalescence temporaire a été mis en évidence. Un diagramme de coalescence de paires a été établi. Pour des trains de gouttes, le diagramme de stabilité coïncide avec celui de paires. La seule différence est observée pour des temps d'excitation plus courts que le temps de relaxation des charges. Dans ce cas, la "coalescence partielle" est remplacée par une simple coalescence. – La caractérisation d'émulsions inverses adhésives : La technique pour former une émulsion inverse très adhésive, c'est de la former très peu adhésive et d'évaporer le bon solvant. Les bicouches artificielles formées avec ces émulsions miment presque toutes les propriétés des membranes biologique. Suivant la quantité de mauvais solvant, elles peuvent se présenter sous forme gaz, fluide ou gel. – La perméabilité des bicouches artificielles : Avec un choc osmotique, la perméabilité à l'eau de ces bicouches a été mis en évidence. Elles sont faiblement perméables aux ions. Avec un champ électrique, leur perméabilité aux ions est possible grâce à la formation de pores à travers elles. Un diagramme d'électroporation s'en est suivi. Pour les deux moteurs de perméabilité, le constat principal est la variation notable de la perméabilité instantanée lors d'une transition de phase dans les bicouches. Ces résultats sont très intéressants et montrent à quel point les émulsions en générale regorge encore de secrets. Pour les émulsions adhésives, les comportements que nous avons observés sur les trains de gouttes sont déjà très surprenants. Nous pouvons nous attendre à des comportements encore plus surprenants dans le cas d'émulsions macroscopiques. En outre, ces effets sont généralement "contre-intuitifs" : la déstabilisation d'une émulsion dense est facilitée par sa décompression ! la séparation des phases huileuses et aqueuses d'une émulsion de pétrole est optimale pour une application d'un champ électrique pas très élevé (un champ électrique élevé entraîne la "coalescence partielle" des gouttes)... Tous ces comportements "contre intuitifs" peuvent être très utiles pour des applications futures dans le domaine des matériaux. En ce qui concerne les émulsions adhésives, les résultats établis ici sont très prometteurs. Elles permettent de mimer les membranes biologiques. Grâce à la perméabilité des membranes artificielles formées, nous pouvons imaginer des gouttes, très concentrées en ions, qui seraient des pompes à solvant : elle permettraient, par exemple, de changer des concentrations de microréacteurs... En ce qui concerne l'électroporation, les expériences peuvent encore être peaufinées. La prochaine étape sera certainement de contrôler directement le potentiel des gouttes, par des pointes par exemple. Cela éviterait, en effet, leur séparation. Dans ce cas, il est clair que le mécanisme d'électroporation pourrait avoir une réelle valeur ajoutée car les réservoirs seront figés et des échanges pourraient se faire. On pourrait espérer ainsi réaliser des expériences d'insertion de molécules dans des gouttes, par électroporation, comme cela existe actuellement pour des vésicules.

We study the thermal expansion of chains formed by self-assembly of magnetic colloidal particles in a magnetic field. Using video microscopy, complete positional data of all the particles of the chains is obtained. By changing the ionic strength of the solution and the applied magnetic field, the interaction potential can be tuned. We analyze the thermal expansion of the chain using a simple model of a one-dimensional anharmonic crystal of finite size.

By using microfluidic chips, we investigate the stability regarding coalescence of droplet pairs under an electric field as a function of drop separation and ac field intensity. Three different regimes are found: stable, coalescence, and partial merging. From this, we identify the two breaking scenarios of a one dimensional train of droplets: in one case the coalescence front propagates; in the other case, in which pairs belong to the partial merging regime, the coalescence front can become heterogeneous. From these findings, we can propose a destruction mechanism for a macroscopic emulsion, which includes the packing condition for which total and immediate destruction is effective.

In 1994 Leal Calderon et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2959 (1994)) introduced the magnetic chaining technique to directly probe the force-distance profile between colloidal particles. In this paper, we revisit this approach in two ways. First, we describe a new experimental design which allows us to utilize sample volumes as low as a few microliters, involving femtomoles of surface active macromolecules. Secondly, we extensively describe the characterization and preparation of the magnetic colloids, and we give a quantitative evaluation of performance and resolution of the technique in terms of force and interparticle separation.

We have produced emulsion droplets of controlled size and composition coated by ligands, and studied the adhesion of these drops on a solid substrate coated by receptors and polymers. Using transmission, RICM and fluorescence microscopy we assess the size, contact angle and ligand density for each drop. We first show that non-specific interactions significantly enhance the proteins density within the adhesive patch. Then we show that binding within the patch is partially inhibited in good agreement with the hypothesis of an absence of translational diffusion. We confirm that the density of specific bonds sets the adhesive energy and therefore the final contact angle, and finally show that specific binding in our system is always associated with the existence of a positive line tension, which linearly increases with the density of receptors. These experiments describe a new scenario for specific wetting which raises the importance of the coupling between non-specific interactions and specific binding.

We discuss the theory of ligand receptor reactions between two freely rotating colloids in close proximity to one other. Such reactions, limited by rotational diffusion, arise in magnetic bead suspensions where the beads are driven into close contact by an applied magnetic field as they align in chainlike structures. By a combination of reaction-diffusion theory, numerical simulations, and heuristic arguments, we compute the time required for a reaction to occur in a number of experimentally relevant situations. We find in all cases that the time required for a reaction to occur is larger than the characteristic rotation time of the diffusion motion tau_rot. When the colloids carry one ligand only and a number n of receptors, we find that the reaction time is, in units of tau_rot, a function simply of n and of the relative surface alpha occupied by one reaction patch alpha = pi r_C²/(4pi r²), where r_C is the ligand receptor capture radius and r is the radius of the colloid.

The destabilization process of an emulsion under flow is investigated in a microfluidic device. The experimental approach enables us to generate a periodic train of droplet pairs, and thus to isolate and analyze the basic step of the destabilization, namely, the coalescence of two droplets which collide. We demonstrate a counterintuitive phenomenon: coalescence occurs during the separation phase and not during the impact. Separation induces the formation of two facing nipples in the contact area that hastens the connection of the interfaces prior to fusion. Moreover, droplet pairs initially stabilized by surfactants can be destabilized by forcing the separation. Finally, we note that the fusion mechanism is responsible for a cascade of coalescence events in a compact system of droplets where the separation is driven by surface tension.

Recent advances in micro-machining allow very small cargos, such as single red blood cells, to be moved by outfitting them with tails made of micrometre-sized paramagnetic particles yoked together by polymer bridges. When a time-varying magnetic field is applied to such a filament, it bends from side to side and propels itself through the fluid, dragging the load behind it. Here, experimental data and a mathematical model are presented showing the dependence of the swimming speed and direction of the magnetic micro-swimmer upon tunable parameters, such as the field strength and frequency and the filament length. The propulsion of the filament arises from the propagation of bending waves between free and tethered ends: here we show that this gives the microswimmer a gait that is intermediate between a eukaryotic cell and a waggled elastic rod. Finally, we extract from the model design principles for constructing the fastest swimming micro-swimmer.

We introduce a general methodology based on magnetic colloids to study the recognition kinetics of tethered biomolecules. Access to the full kinetics of the reaction is provided by an explicit measure of the time evolution of the reactant densities. Binding between a single ligand and its complementary receptor is here limited by the colloidal rotational diffusion. It occurs within a binding distance that can be extracted by a reaction-diffusion theory that properly accounts for the rotational Brownian dynamics. Our reaction geometry allows us to probe a large diversity of bioadhesive molecules and tethers, thus providing a quantitative guidance for designing more efficient reactive biomimetic surfaces, as required for diagnostic, therapeutic, and tissue engineering techniques.

We report on frequency and field-dependent complexsusceptibility, , measurements of a magnetic colloidal system consisting of 200 nm spherical beads, containingmaghemite (γFe₂O₃) nanoparticles. The relaxation properties of both the magnetic colloid and a free suspension of the γFe₂O₃ particles, are investigated over the frequency range 200 Hz–1 MHz. Under a polarizing field H, an absorption peak is detected in the component at frequencies f_max between 1.1 and 1.7 kHz. We show that this absorption peak can be attributed to the Néel relaxation of the inner maghemitenanoparticles. It is also shown that the general trend for the value of f_max and the amplitude of both and is to increase with increasing H. Furthermore, the relation between and and their dependence on frequency, ω/2π, is investigated by means of the magnetic analogue of the Cole–Cole plot and a measure of the Cole–Cole distribution parameter α_s is determined.

We have studied the effect of shear on the stability of suspensions made of non-Brownian solid particles. We demonstrate the existence of an irreversible transition where the solid particles aggregate at remarkably low volume fractions (Phi~0.1). This shear-induced aggregation is dramatic and exhibits a very sudden change in the viscosity, which increases sharply after a shear-dependent induction time. We show that this induction time is related exponentially to the shear rate, reflecting the importance of the hydrodynamic forces in reducing the repulsive energy barrier that prevents the particles from aggregating.

Following a novel realization of low-Reynolds-number swimming (Dreyfus et al., Nature, vol. 436, 2005, p. 862), in which self-assembled filaments of paramagnetic micron-sized beads are tethered to red blood cells and then induced to swim under crossed uniform and oscillating magnetic fields, the dynamics of magnetoelastic filaments is studied. The filament is modelled as a slender elastica driven by a magnetic body torque. The model is applied to experiments of Goubault et al. (Phys.Rev. Lett., vol. 91, 2003, art. 260802) to predict the lifetimes of metastable static filament conformations that are known to form under uniform fields. A second experimental swimming scenario, complementary to that of Dreyfus et al. (2005), is described: filaments are capable of swimming even if not tethered to red blood cells. Yet, if both ends of the filament are left free and the material and magnetic parameters are uniform along its length then application of an oscillating transverse field can only generate homogeneous torques, and net translation is prohibited by symmetry. It is shown that fore–aft symmetry is broken when variation of the bending stiffness along the filament is accounted for by including elastic defects, which produces results consistent with the swimming phenomenology. 

When ligands and receptors are both attached on surfaces, because of the restriction of configurational freedom, their recognition kinetics may be substantially reduced as compared with freely diffusing species. In nature, this reduction may influence the efficiency of the capture and adhesion of circulating cells. Here we show that similar consequences are observed for colloids grafted with biomolecules that are used as probes for diagnostics. We exploit Brownian magnetic colloids that self-assemble into linear chains to show also that the resulting one-dimensional confinement considerably accelerates the recognition rate between grafted receptors and their ligands. We propose that because confinement significantly augments the colliding frequency, it also causes a large increase in the attempt frequency of the recognition. This work gives the basis of a rapid, homogeneous, and highly sensitive bioanalysis method.

We study the coupled rotational diffusion in a two-particle chain on the basis of a Smoluchowski equation and calculate time correlation functions that are measurable in an experiment. This approach might be used to explore hydrodynamic interactions in the limit where lubrication theory is valid.

An object consisting of three spheres, linked like the spokes on a wheel, can undergo a net rotational movement when the relative positions of the spheres proceed through a four-step cycle. This rotational motion is the analogue of the two-hinged swimmer originally proposed by Purcell (1977), which has served as a prototype for mechanical implementations of swimming. We also note that the rotational motion analysed here may be useful in the design of micromachines and has similarities to molecular-scale rotational motors that have been identified recently.

Superparamagnetic particles offer a new way to probe the kinetics of adhesive processes. Two different scenarios of physical adhesion are studied. The thermal activation of van der Waals adhesion is well described by an Arrhenius model. In contrast, it is necessary to go beyond the Arrhenius description to understand the thermal activation of bridging between colloidal particles by a polymer at equilibrium adsorbance. We show that polymer bridging requires some removal of adsorbed polymer and is strongly influenced by the proximity of a glass transition within the adsorbed polymer.

We present a new technique to measure the mechanical properties of small biomolecules. This technique uses long range repulsive colloidal forces together with magnetic attraction as a force probing tool. The biomolecules are grafted between superparamagnetic particles, which are regularly spaced within long chains maintained by an external magnetic field. Varying the magnetic field results in compression or extension of the molecules between the particles. In order to demonstrate this technique we use, as a size controlled model molecule, a short double stranded DNA (151 base pairs) for which the force-extension law is determined and found in agreement with existing predictions.

Microorganisms such as bacteria and many eukaryotic cells propel themselves with hair-like structures known as flagella, which can exhibit a variety of structures and movement patterns1. For example, bacterial flagella are helically shaped2 and driven at their bases by a reversible rotary engine3, which rotates the attached flagellum to give a motion similar to that of a corkscrew. In contrast, eukaryotic cells use flagella that resemble elastic rods4 and exhibit a beating motion: internally generated stresses give rise to a series of bends that propagate towards the tip5–7. In contrast to this variety of swimming strategies encountered in nature, a controlled swimming motion of artificial micrometresized structures has not yet been realized. Here we show that a linear chain of colloidal magnetic particles linked by DNA and attached to a red blood cell can act as a flexible artificial flagellum. The filament aligns with an external uniformmagnetic field and is readily actuated by oscillating a transverse field. We find that the actuation induces a beating pattern that propels the structure, and that the external fields can be adjusted to control the velocity and the direction of motion.