Microorganisms swimming in lyotropic liquid crystal polymers near a wall

The dynamics of microswimmers' undulatory swimming near a wall in lyotropic liquid crystal polymers is investigated. Using asymptotic analysis and numerical study, we observe that the infinitely long sheet exhibits orientation-dependent behaviors and speeds up as it approaches the wall, accompanied by a notable increase in swimming efficiency. For the stiff finite-length swimmers, they would reorient themselves and be trapped when close enough to the wall, due to a net hydrodynamic torque induced by the asymmetric distribution of the flow field.