Spatiotemporal dynamics of minimal bromate oscillators in an open one-side-fed reactor

Abstract

Minimal bromate oscillators represent the simplest version of the oscillatory reactions based on the chemistry of the oxybromine species. Here, we present numerical and experimental evidence of the existence of reaction–diffusion waves in the ferroin catalyzed minimal bromate oscillator. The wave dynamics depend not only on the characteristic chemical timescales but also on those of the diffusive matter exchange which occurs between the reaction–diffusion medium and its environment. We show that the extended reactivity of the ferroin catalyst towards the oxybromine species plays an essential role in the observed phenomena. For the cerium catalyzed minimal bromate oscillator the simulations support only the formation of spatial bistability.