Bray-Liebhafsky reaction: From monotonous to chaotic evolution

Abstract

Many physicochemical processes can exhibit various forms of non-linear dynamics, which have been widely investigated in the oscillatory reaction Bray-Liebhafsky, too. The stoichiometry of this reaction corresponds to the hydrogen peroxide decomposition to water and oxygen in an acidic environment, in the presence of iodate ions as a catalyst. During this reaction an oscillatory change of the intermediate species concentration, along with a cascade change in the hydrogen peroxide concentration and oxygen removal can be obtained. By selecting the experimental conditions, the simple periodic or complex chaotic concentration changes can be generated. Concentration oscillations are a consequence of alternating dominance of different reaction pathways present in the reaction mechanism. Large extent of the phenomena experimentally observed in the oscillatory reaction Bray- Liebhafsky is well explained by the mechanistic model, investigated by the Belgrade group over a many years.