Viscosity ratio across interfaces controls the stability and self-assembly of microrollers

Abstract

We investigate the individual and collective dynamics of torque-driven particles, called microrollers, near fluid-fluid interfaces. We find that the viscosity ratio across the interface controls the speed and direction of the particles, their relative motion, the growth of a fingering instability, and the self-assembled motile structures that emerge from it. By combining theory and large scale numerical simulations, we show how the viscosity ratio across the interface governs the long-range hydrodynamic interactions between particles and thus their collective behavior.