Fluctuations in catalytic surface reactions

Abstract

The internal reaction-induced fluctuations which occur in catalytic CO oxidation on a Pt field emitter tip have been studied using field electron microscopy (FEM) as a spatially resolving method. The structurally heterogeneous Pt tip consists of facets of different orientations with nanoscale dimensions. The FEM resolution of roughly 2 nm corresponds to a few hundred reacting adsorbed particles whose variations in the density are imaged as brightness fluctuations. In the bistable range of the reaction one finds fluctuation induced transitions between the two stable branches of the reaction kinetics. The fluctuations exhibit a behaviour similar to that of an equilibrium phase transition, i.e. the amplitude diverges upon approaching the bifurcation point terminating the bistable range of the reaction. Simulations with a hybrid Monte Carlo/mean-field model reproduce the experimental observations. Fluctuations on different facets are typically uncorrelated but within a single facet a high degree of spatial coherence is found.