Self-assembly to synchrony of active gels.

Self-assembly functionalizes active constituents to perform rhythmic activities. Here, our results show that the capillary-Marangoni interaction of irregularly moving gel beads develops complex patterns at the air-liquid interface. The collective behavior of the self-assembled structures exhibits breathing dynamics, polygonal oscillating rings, and cluster synchrony of chains. Interestingly, the trapping of soft particles generates relay synchronization of a rotor. Swarming of clusters is found to form rhythmic shrinking and expanding multiple-ring patterns. The development of self-organized spatiotemporal patterns of our active gel system provides a new way of creating collective oscillations.