Brownian rod scheme in microenvironment sensing

Abstract

Fluctuations of freely translating spherical particles via Brownian motion should provide inexhaustible information about the micro-environment, but is beset by the problem of particles drifting away from the venue of measurement as well as colliding with other particles. We propose a scheme here to circumvent this in which a Brownian rod that lies in proximity to a cylindrical pillar is drawn in by a tuneable attractive force from the pillar. The force is assumed to act through the centre of each body and the motion exclusive to the x-y plane. Simulation studies show two distinct states, one in which the rod is moving freely (state I) and the other in which the rod contacts the cylinder surface (state II). Information about the micro-environment could be obtained by tracking the rotational diffusion coefficient Dθ populating in either of these two states. However, the magnitude of the normalized charge product in excess of 6.3x104 was found necessary for a rod of 6.81 × 0.93 μm2 (length × diameter) and 10μm diameter cylindrical pillar to minimize deviation errors. It was also found that the extent of spatial sensing coverage could be controlled by varying the charge level. The conditions needed to ascertain the rotational sampling for angle determination through the Hough transform were also discussed.