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Motility-induced shear thickening in dense colloidal suspensions

Phase transitions and collective dynamics of active colloidal suspensions are fascinating topics in soft matter physics, particularly for out-of-equilibrium systems, which can lead to rich rheological behaviours in the presence of steady shear flow. In this article, the role of self-propulsion in the rheological response of a dense colloidal suspension is investigated by using particle-resolved simulations. First, the interplay between activity and shear in the solid to the liquid transition of the suspension is analysed. While both self-propulsion and shear destroy order and melt the system by themselves above their critical values, self-propulsion lowers the stress barrier that needs to be overcome during the transition. Once the suspension reaches a non-equilibrium steady state the rheological response is analysed. While passive suspensions show a solid-like behaviour, turning on particle motility fluidises the system and, at low self-propulsion, the suspension behaves as a shear-thinning fluid. Increasing the self-propulsion of the colloids induces a transition from a shear-thinning to a shear-thickening behaviour, which we attribute to clustering in the suspensions induced by motility. This interesting phenomenon of motility-induced shear thickening (MIST) can be used to tailor the rheological response of colloidal suspensions.