Propagating spiral waves obtained in a catalyst-immobilized gel membrane by the belousov-zhabotinsky reaction system

Abstract

The formation of diverse spiral waves was studied in a polyacrylamide gel membrane with ruthenium(4-vinyl-4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine)bis(2,2'-bipyridine) bis(hexafluorophosphate) by a gas-free Belousov-Zhabotinisky (BZ) reaction system containing 1,4-cyclohexanedione (1,4-CHD). The gel membrane was found to be receptive for observing propagating waves since a clearer wave-train is obtained during a long reaction time without any disturbance from the immobilized metal catalyst which can be dissolved into the highly acidic solution of the BZ system. The distinctive waves in the system basically depend on both BrO3 and 1,4-CHD in the initial phase, and are influenced by the intensity of illumination of visible light.