Autophoretic skating along permeable surfaces

The dynamics of self-propelled colloidal particles is strongly influenced by their environment through hydrodynamic and, in many cases, chemical interactions. We develop a theoretical framework to describe the motion of confined active particles by combining the Lorentz reciprocal theorem with a Galerkin discretisation of surface fields, yielding an equation of motion that efficiently captures self-propulsion without requiring an explicit solution for the bulk fluid flow. Applying this framework, we identify and characterise the long-time behaviours of a Janus particle near rigid, permeable and fluid–fluid interfaces, revealing distinct motility regimes, including surface-bound skating, stable hovering and chemo-hydrodynamic reflection. Our results demonstrate how the solute permeability and the viscosity contrast of the surface influence a particle’s dynamics, providing valuable insights into experimentally relevant guidance mechanisms for autophoretic particles. The computational efficiency of our method makes it particularly well suited for systematic parameter sweeps, offering a powerful tool for mapping the phase space of confined active particles and informing high-fidelity numerical simulations.