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The motion of active colloids is generally achieved through their anisotropy,as exemplified by Janus colloids. Recently, there was a growing interest in thepropulsion of isotropic colloids, which requires some local symmetry breaking.Although several mechanisms for such propulsion were proposed, little is knownabout the role played by the interactions within the environment of thecolloid, which can have a dramatic effect on its propulsion. Here, we propose aminimal model of an isotropic colloid in a bath of solute particles thatinteract with each other. These interactions lead to a spontaneous phasetransition close to the colloid, to directed motion of the colloid over verylong timescales and to significantly enhanced diffusion, in spite of thecrowding induced by solute particles. We determine the range of parameterswhere this effect is observable in the model, and we propose an effectiveLangevin equation that accounts for it and allows one to determine thedifferent contributions at stake in self-propulsion and enhanced diffusion.

Spontaneous propulsion of an isotropic colloid in a phase-separating environment