Martínez Pedrero, FernandoOrtiz-Ambriz, AntonioPagonabarraga Mora, IgnacioTierno, Pietro2015-09-302015-09-302015-09-220031-9007https://hdl.handle.net/2445/67045We study propulsion arising from microscopic colloidal rotors dynamically assembled and driven in a viscous fluid upon application of an elliptically polarized rotating magnetic field. Close to a confining plate, the motion of this self-assembled microscopic worm results from the cooperative flow generated by the spinning particles which act as a hydrodynamic 'conveyor belt.' Chains of rotors propel faster than individual ones, until reaching a saturation speed at distances where induced-flow additivity vanishes. By combining experiments and theoretical arguments, we elucidate the mechanism of motion and fully characterize the propulsion speed in terms of the field parameters.5 p.application/pdfeng(c) American Physical Society, 2015Col·loidesNanotecnologiaColloidsNanotechnologyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article6544642015-09-30info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess26451584