Local Dissipative Structures in Chemical Reactions with Heterogeneous Catalysis

摘要

Certain coupled chemical reactions far from chemical equilibrium (usually with a feed-back mechanism and frequently a homogeneous auto or cross-catalytic reaction step) are known to show temporal oscillations and stable, periodic structures (inhomogeneities in concentrations). At a point of marginal stability, the entire system makes a symmetry-breaking transition from a homogeneous to a structured state. In the article, it is shown that in the presence of heterogeneous (local) catalysis, local, periodic inhomogeneities in concentrations of chemical species (local dissipative structure) may occur under far less restrictive conditions than for global structures. (Author)