Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Combining Microfluidics and Microrheology to Determine Rheological Properties of Soft Matter during Repeated Phase Transitions
Published on: April 19, 2018
Patterns in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction in water-in-oil microemulsion induced by a temperature gradient
Jorge Carballido-Landeira1, Vladimir K Vanag, Irving R Epstein
1Department of Chemistry and Volen Center for Complex Systems, MS 015, Brandeis University, Waltham, 02454-9110, USA.
Abstract:
We investigate the effect of changing temperature in the ferroin-catalysed Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction dispersed in the water nanodroplets of a water-in-oil aerosol OT (AOT) microemulsion, which undergoes a temperature-induced percolation transition at about 38 degrees C. We observe stationary Turing patterns at temperatures in the range 15-35 degrees C and bulk oscillations at T = 40-55 degrees C. When a temperature gradient DeltaT is applied normal to a thin layer of the BZ-AOT reaction mixture, the range of patterns observed is dramatically expanded. Anti-phase oscillatory Turing patterns, leaping waves, and chaotic waves emerge, depending on the temperature gradient and the average temperature. These new patterns originate from the coupling between a low temperature Turing mode and a high temperature Hopf mode. Simulations with a simple model of the BZ-AOT system give good agreement with our experimental results.
Related Concept Videos
Effect of Temperature Change on Reaction Rate
Temperature Dependence on Reaction Rate
Atoms, molecules, or ions must collide before they can react with each other. Atoms must be close together to form chemical bonds. This premise is the basis for a theory that explains many observations regarding chemical kinetics, including factors affecting reaction rates.
The collision theory is based on the postulates that (i) the reaction rate is proportional to the rate of reactant collisions, (ii) the reacting species collide in an orientation allowing contact between...
Entropy and Solvation
Distillation: Vapor–Liquid Equilibria
Fast Reactions
Nonideal Two-Component Liquid Solutions

