# Activity-induced phase separation and self-assembly in mixtures of active and passive particles

Source: [Activity-induced phase separation and self-assembly in mixtures of active and passive particles](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa2e481e209131ce8611e6>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-24T16:48:53.275Z

Authors: Joakim Stenhammar, Raphael Wittkowski, Davide Marenduzzo, Michael E. Cates

Published: 2014-08-21T23:50:06.000Z

## Abstract

We investigate the phase behavior and kinetics of a monodisperse mixture of active (\\textit{i.e.}, self-propelled) and passive isometric Brownian particles through Brownian dynamics simulations and theory. As in a purely active system, motility of the active component triggers phase separation into a dense and a dilute phase; in the dense phase we further find active-passive segregation, with "rafts" of passive particles in a "sea" of active particles. We find that phase separation from an initially disordered mixture can occur with as little as 15 percent of the particles being active. Finally, we show that a system prepared in a suitable fully segregated initial state reproducibly self-assembles an active "corona" which triggers crystallization of the passive core by initiating a compression wave. Our findings are relevant to the experimental pursuit of directed self-assembly using active particles.

## Recorded benchmark results

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## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.5175>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/1408.5175.pdf>)