2023/02/24
Keio University
A research group from Keio University, including Professor Toshiharu Saiki of the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology; Senior Assistant Professor Eishi Yamamoto of the Department of System Design Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology; and Bokusui Nakayama (a third-year Doctoral Programs student at the Graduate School of Science and Technology and a technical trainee at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology [AIST]), in collaboration with Yuta Saito and his colleagues at the Device Technology Research Institute of AIST, has successfully implemented pheromone interactions, similar to those seen in ant colonies, into a system of self-propelling Janus particles in water. By modulating the strength of the interactions, they induced the emergence of motile states within the Janus particle population, such as colony formation and file formation. The results of this research were published in the American scientific journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)" on February 22, 2023 (US Eastern Time).
Please see below for the full press release.