Nonequilibrium microstructures in reactive monolayers as soft matter systems

Chemical systems provide classical examples of nonequilibrium pattern formation. Reactions in weak aqueous solutions, such as the extensively investigated Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, demonstrate a rich variety of patterns, ranging from travelling fronts to rotating spiral waves and chemical turbulence. Pattern formation in such systems is based on interplay between the reactions and diffusion. Intrinsically, this puts a restriction on the minimum length scale of the developing structures, which cannot be shorter than the diffusion length of the reactants. However, much smaller nonequilibrium structures, with characteristic lengths reaching down to nanoscales, are also possible. They are found in reactive soft matter, where energetic interactions between molecules are present as well. In these systems, chemical reactions and diffusion interfere with phase transitions, yielding active, stationary or dynamic microstructures. Nonequilibrium soft-matter microstructures are of fundamental importance for biological cells and may have interesting engineering applications. In this Minireview, we focus on the microstructures found in reactive soft-matter monolayers at solid surfaces or liquid-air interfaces.