Designing Bioinspired Artificial Cilia to Regulate Particle-Surface Interactions

Biological cilia play a critical role in a stunning array of vital functions, from enabling marine organisms to trap food and expel fouling agents to facilitating the effective transport of egg cells in mammals. Inspired by the performance of these microscopic, hair-like filaments, researchers are synthesizing artificial cilia for use in lab-on-a-chip devices. There have, however, been few attempts to harness the artificial cilia to regulate the movement of particulates in these devices. Here, we review recent computational studies on the interactions between actuated artificial cilia and microscopic particles, showing that these cilia are effective at transporting both rigid and deformable particles in microchannels. The findings also reveal that these beating filaments can be used to separate microparticles based on their size and stiffness. Importantly, these studies indicate that artificial cilia can be used to prevent fouling by a wide variety of agents because they can expel both passive particulates and active swimmers from the underlying surface. These results can help guide experimental efforts to fully exploit artificial cilia in controlling particle motion within fluid environments.