Mechano-chemical coupling in Belousov-Zhabotinskii reactions

Mechano-chemical coupling has been recently recognised as an important effect in various systems as chemical reactivity can be controlled through an applied mechanical loading. Namely, Belousov-Zhabotinskii reactions in polymer gels exhibit self-sustained oscillations and have been identified to be reasonably controllable and definable to the extent that they can be harnessed to perform mechanical work at specific locations. In this paper, we use our theoretical work of nonlinear mechano-chemical coupling and investigate the possibility of providing an explanation of phenomena found in experimental research by means of this theory. We show that mechanotransduction occurs as a response to both static and dynamic mechanical stimulation, e.g., volume change and its rate, as observed experimentally and discuss the difference of their effects on oscillations. Plausible values of the quasi-stoichiometric parameter f of Oregonator model are estimated together with its dependence on mechanical stimulation. An increase in static loading, e.g., pressure, is predicted to have stimulatory effect whereas dynamic loading, e.g., rate of volume change, is predicted to be stimulatory only up to a certain threshold. Further, we offer a physically consistent explanation of the observed phenomena why some Belousov-Zhabotinskii gels require an additional mechanical stimulation to show emergence of oscillation or why "revival" of oscillations in Belousov-Zhabotinskii reactions is possible together with indications for further experimental setups.