Spontaneous motion of a droplet coupled with chemical reaction

Abstract

The spontaneous motion of a droplet of Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction medium was studied experimentally. A propagating chemical wave causes an increase in interfacial tension, which induces convection inside the droplet. This convection causes spontaneous translational motion of the droplet. In this article, we describe the dynamics of the convection inside the droplet and discuss its mechanism.