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Peer-reviewedCC BYProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Cooperation in binary mixtures of active colloids.

  • Laura Alvarez1,2
  • Elena Sesé-Sansa3
  • Demian Levis4,5
  • Ignacio Pagonabarraga5,6
  • Lucio Isa2
6 affiliations
  1. 1University of Bordeaux, Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientfique, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, UMR 5031, Pessac F-33600, France.
  2. 2Laboratory for Soft Materials and Interfaces, This is the unit/division in this affiliation, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland.
  3. 3Editorial Office, American Physical Society, Hauppauge, NY 11788.
  4. 4Computing and Understanding Collective Action Lab, Condensed Matter Physics Department, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona E08028, Spain.
  5. 5University of Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems, Barcelona E08028, Spain.
  6. 6Condensed Matter Physics Department, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona E08028, Spain.
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Abstract

The complex interactions underlying collective motion in biological systems give rise to emergent behaviors such as flocking, sorting, and cooperative transport. These dynamics often involve species with different motilities coordinating movement to optimize navigation and survival. Synthetic analogues based on active colloids offer a controlled platform to explore such behaviors, yet most experimental realizations remain limited to monodisperse systems or mixtures of passive and active particles. Here, we investigate dense binary mixtures of active Janus colloids with two different metal caps leading to distinct motilities and independently tunable mutual alignment, actuated by AC electric fields. We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that binary mixtures form highly dynamic polar clusters. Moreover, particles segregate according to their motility, leading to cooperative "catch-and-run"-like dynamics in which slow particles are locally advected and pushed by fast polar clusters, producing a transient enhancement of slow-particle motility. Our results reveal how motility contrast and alignment combine to drive self-organization in active mixtures, offering strategies for designing reconfigurable materials with collective functionalities.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{alvarez2026cooperation,
  title = {{Cooperation in binary mixtures of active colloids.}},
  author = {Laura Alvarez and Elena Sesé-Sansa and Demian Levis and Ignacio Pagonabarraga and Lucio Isa},
  journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1073/pnas.2609894123},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42837455},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Cooperation in binary mixtures of active colloids.
AU  - Laura Alvarez
AU  - Elena Sesé-Sansa
AU  - Demian Levis
AU  - Ignacio Pagonabarraga
AU  - Lucio Isa
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
JO  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DO  - 10.1073/pnas.2609894123
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42837455
AB  - The complex interactions underlying collective motion in biological systems give rise to emergent behaviors such as flocking, sorting, and cooperative transport. These dynamics often involve species with different motilities coordinating movement to optimize navigation and survival. Synthetic analogues based on active colloids offer a controlled platform to explore such behaviors, yet most experimental realizations remain limited to monodisperse systems or mixtures of passive and active particles. Here, we investigate dense binary mixtures of active Janus colloids with two different metal caps leading to distinct motilities and independently tunable mutual alignment, actuated by AC electric fields. We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that binary mixtures form highly dynamic polar clusters. Moreover, particles segregate according to their motility, leading to cooperative "catch-and-run"-like dynamics in which slow particles are locally advected and pushed by fast polar clusters, producing a transient enhancement of slow-particle motility. Our results reveal how motility contrast and alignment combine to drive self-organization in active mixtures, offering strategies for designing reconfigurable materials with collective functionalities.
SN  - 0027-8424
SN  - 1091-6490
ER  -