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Abstract
The rapid development of novel technologies can be considered as one of the defining aspects of the modern age, especially in the domains of materials and medicine. One of the most versatile tools to arise at the intersection of these fields are particles which can be controlled or otherwise actively operate at the nano- and microscales; to differentiate these from particles which passively react to their environment, called ‘active particles’. Whether self-propelling or driven by external fields, active particles hold great value and potential towards the fields of chemistry and medicine. With new applications in medicine, and especially for usage within the body, there is an outstanding need to understand how active particles may behave and aggregate in confined fluid systems, such as blood vessels. Presented in this dissertation is a thorough investigation of the dynamic clustering behavior of active particles under confinement, including the effects of both particle density as well as active driving force. A hybrid coarse-grained molecular dynamics scheme is used with stochastic rotation dynamics to allow for accurate hydrodynamic interactions, and the diffusion-limited aggregation behavior is studied. The findings presented here allow for a series of scaling laws based on power relationships for the clustering time as a function of both density of active particles, as well as the applied driving force. There are up to four distinct dynamic regions in terms of clustering as a function of time, dependent on the density of the particles within the system. As driving force increases, the aggregation behavior also is accelerated, whereas an increase in density of active particles changes the dynamic procession of the system. These insights into the behavior of active particles will allow for better modeling and prediction for the usage of active particles in confined fluid systems