Self-mixing in microtubule-kinesin active fluid from nonuniform to uniform distribution of activity

Abstract

Active fluids have applications in micromixing, but little is known about the mixing kinematics of systems with spatiotemporally-varying activity. To investigate, UV-activated caged ATP was used to activate controlled regions of microtubule-kinesin active fluid and the mixing process was observed with fluorescent tracers and molecular dyes. At low P\'eclet numbers (diffusive transport), the active-inactive interface progressed toward the inactive area in a diffusion-like manner that was described by a simple model combining diffusion with Michaelis-Menten kinetics. At high P\'eclet numbers (convective transport), the active-inactive interface progressed in a superdiffusion-like manner that was qualitatively captured by an active-fluid hydrodynamic model coupled to ATP transport. Results showed that active fluid mixing involves complex coupling between distribution of active stress and active transport of ATP and reduces mixing time for suspended components with decreased impact of initial component distribution. This work will inform application of active fluids to promote micromixing in microfluidic devices.