Dynamic self-assembly of active particles in liquid crystals

Abstract

We studied a binary mixture of self propelling (active) and standard (passive), Gay-Berne mesogens using a molecular dynamics technique. We found that in a certain range ofactive particle concentration, propelling force and temperature, here identified, a liquid crystalline sample where active particles are initially randomly distributed can form self-assembling parallel streams (lanes) of active particles flowing in opposite directions. As far as we are aware this is the first microscopic study showing the dynamic self organization of active particles in thermotropic liquid crystals.