Multifold Increases in Turing Pattern Wavelength in the Chlorine Dioxide-Iodine-Malonic Acid Reaction-Diffusion System

Abstract

Turing patterns in the chlorine dioxide-iodine-malonic acid reaction were modified through additions of sodium halide salt solutions. The range of wavelengths obtained is several times larger than in the previously reported literature. Pattern wavelength was observed to significantly increase with sodium bromide or sodium chloride. A transition to a uniform state was found at high halide concentrations. The observed experimental results are qualitatively well reproduced in numerical simulations with the Lengyel-Epstein model with an additional chemically realistic kinetic term to account for the added halide and an adjustment of the activator diffusion rate to allow for interhalogen formation.