Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Detecting, Visualizing and Quantitating the Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species in an Amoeba Model System
Published on: November 5, 2013
Emergent, collective oscillations of self-mobile particles and patterned surfaces under redox conditions
Michael E Ibele1, Paul E Lammert, Vincent H Crespi
1Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Abstract:
We have discovered that silver chloride (AgCl) particles in the presence of UV light and dilute hydrogen peroxide exhibit both single-particle and collective oscillations in their motion which arise due to an oscillatory, reversible conversion of AgCl to silver metal at the particle surface. This system exhibits several of the hallmarks of nonlinear oscillatory reactions, including bistability, reaction waves, and synchronized collective oscillations at high particle concentrations. However, unlike traditional oscillatory reactions that take place among dispersed solute species in solution or near a fixed electrode surface, this system of self-mobile catalytic particles evinces a new dynamical length scale: the interparticle spacing, which appears to control wave propagation. The collective motions of these powered nanoparticles self-organize into clumped oscillators with significant spatiotemporal correlations between clumps. A variant of this system using a regular array of lithographically patterned silver disks supports the propagation of binary "On/Off" Ag/AgCl waves through the lattice.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Redox Equilibria: Overview
Redox Reactions
Redox Reactions
Microbes and Other Elemental Cycles
Oxidation-Reduction Reactions
Oxidation and Reduction of Organic Molecules
The removal of an electron from a molecule, results in a...

