Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2023
A colloidal motor driven by surface tension forces is theoretically designed by encapsulating an active Janus particle in a liquid drop which is immiscible in the suspending medium. The Janus particle produces an asymmetric flux of a solute species which induces surface tension gradients along the liquid–liquid interface between the drop and the surrounding fluid. The resulting Marangoni forces at the interface propel the compound drop/Janus particle system. The propulsion speeds of the motor are evaluated for a range of relative sizes and positions of the drop and the particle and across a range of transport properties of the drop and the suspending medium. It is demonstrated that the proposed design can produce higher propulsion velocities than the traditional Janus-particle-based colloidal motors propelled by neutral diffusiophoresis.