Horizontally propagating three-dimensional chemo-hydrodynamic patterns in the chlorite-tetrathionate reaction

Propagating fronts in fluids with solutal feedback

We numerically study the propagation of reacting fronts in a shallow and horizontal layer of fluid with solutal feedback and in the presence of a thermally driven flow field of counterrotating convection rolls. We solve the Boussinesq equations along with a reaction-convection-diffusion equation for the concentration field where the products of the nonlinear autocatalytic reaction are less dense than the reactants. For small values of the solutal Rayleigh number the characteristic fluid velocity scales linearly, and the front velocity and mixing length scale quadratically, with increasing solutal Rayleigh number. For small solutal Rayleigh numbers the front geometry is described by a curve that is nearly antisymmetric about the horizontal midplane. For large values of the solutal Rayleigh number the characteristic fluid velocity, the front velocity, and the mixing length exhibit square-root scaling and the front shape collapses onto an asymmetric self-similar curve. In the presence of counterrotating convection rolls, the mixing length decreases while the front velocity increases. The complexity of the front geometry increases when both the solutal and convective contributions are significant and the dynamics can exhibit chemical oscillations in time for certain parameter values. Last, we discuss the spatiotemporal features of the complex fronts that form over a range of solutal and thermal driving.

Convective instabilities derived from dissipation of chemical energy

Oxidation reactions of a series of organosulfur compounds by chlorite are excitable, autocatalytic, and exothermic and generate a lateral instability upon being triggered by the autocatalyst. This article reports on the convective instabilities derived from the reaction of chlorite and thiourea in a Hele-Shaw cell. Reagent concentrations used for the development of convective instabilities delivered a temperature jump at the wave front of 2.1 K. The reaction zone was 2 mm and due to normal cooling after the wave front, this induced a spike rather than the standard well-studied front propagation. Localized spatiotemporal patterns develop around the wave front. This exothermic autocatalytic reaction has solutal and thermal contributions to density changes that act in opposite directions due to the existence of a positive isothermal density change in the reaction. The competition between these effects generates thermal plumes. The fascinating feature of this system is the coexistence of plumes and fingering in the same solution as the front propagates through the Hele-Shaw cell. Wave velocities of descending and ascending fronts are oscillatory. Fingers and plumes are generated in alternating frequency as the front propagates. This generates hot and cold spots within the Hele-Shaw cell, and subsequently spatiotemporal inhomogeneities. The small ΔT at the wave front generated thermocapillary convection which competed effectively with thermogravitational forces at low Eötvös numbers. A simplified reaction-diffusion-convection model was derived for the system. Plume formation is heavily dependent on boundary effects from the cell dimensions.

Surface tension- and buoyancy-driven flows across horizontally propagating chemical fronts

Chemical reactions can interplay with hydrodynamic flows to generate various complex phenomena. Because of their relevance in many research areas, chemically-induced hydrodynamic flows have attracted increasing attention in the last decades. In this context, we propose to give a review of the past and recent theoretical and experimental works which have considered the interaction of such flows with chemical fronts, i.e. reactive interfaces, formed between miscible solutions. We focus in particular on the influence of surface tension- (Marangoni) and buoyancy-driven flows on the dynamics of chemical fronts propagating horizontally in the gravity field.

Convection induced by thermal gradients on thin reaction fronts

We present a thin front model for the propagation of chemical reaction fronts in liquids inside a Hele-Shaw cell or porous media. In this model we take into account density gradients due to thermal and compositional changes across a thin interface. The front separating reacted from unreacted fluids evolves following an eikonal relation between the normal speed and the curvature. We carry out a linear stability analysis of convectionless flat fronts confined in a two-dimensional rectangular domain. We find that all fronts are stable to perturbations of short wavelength, but they become unstable for some wavelengths depending on the values of compositional and thermal gradients. If the effects of these gradients oppose each other, we observe a range of wavelengths that make the flat front unstable. Numerical solutions of the nonlinear model show curved fronts of steady shape with convection propagating faster than flat fronts. Exothermic fronts increase the temperature of the fluid as they propagate through the domain. This increment in temperature decreases with increasing speed.

Self-Assembly of Charged Nanoparticles by an Autocatalytic Reaction Front

In this work we present that aggregation of charged and pH sensitive nanoparticles can be spatiotemporally controlled by an autonomous way using the chlorite-tetrathionate autocatalytic front, where the front regulates the electrostatic interaction between nanoparticles due to protonation of the capping (carboxylate-terminated) ligand. We found that the aggregation and sedimentation of nanoparticles in liquid phase with the effect of reversible binding of the autocatalyst (H(+)) play important roles in changing the front stability (mixing length) and the velocity of the front in both cases when the fronts propagate upward and downward. Calculation of interparticle interactions (electrostatic and van der Waals) with the measurement of front velocity revealed that the aggregation process occurs fast (within a few seconds) at the front position.

Three-dimensional convection-driven fronts of the exothermic chlorite-tetrathionate reaction

Horizontally propagating autocatalytic reaction fronts in fluids are often accompanied by convective motion in the presence of gravity. We experimentally and numerically investigate the stable complex three-dimensional pattern arising in the exothermic chlorite-tetrathionate reaction as a result of the antagonistic thermal and solutal contribution to the density change. By particle image velocimetry measurements, we construct the flow field that stabilizes the front structure. The calculations applied for incompressible fluids using the empirical rate-law model reproduce the experimental observations with good agreement.

Relation between shape of liquid-gas interface and evolution of buoyantly unstable three-dimensional chemical fronts

Buoyantly unstable 3D chemical fronts were seen traveling through an iodate-arsenous acid reaction solution. The experiments were performed in channel reactors with rectangular cross sections, where the top of the reaction solution was in contact with air. A concave or convex meniscus was pinned to reactor lateral walls. Influence of the meniscus shape on front development was investigated. For the concave meniscus, an asymptotic shape of fronts holding negative curvature was observed. On the other hand, fronts propagating in the solution with the convex meniscus kept only positive curvature. Those fronts were also a bit faster than fronts propagating in the solution with the concave meniscus. A relation between the meniscus shape, flow distribution, velocity, and shape is discussed.

Introduction to the focus issue: chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities

Pattern forming instabilities are often encountered in a wide variety of natural phenomena and technological applications, from self-organization in biological and chemical systems to oceanic or atmospheric circulation and heat and mass transport processes in engineering systems. Spatio-temporal structures are ubiquitous in hydrodynamics where numerous different convective instabilities generate pattern formation and complex spatiotemporal dynamics, which have been much studied both theoretically and experimentally. In parallel, reaction-diffusion processes provide another large family of pattern forming instabilities and spatio-temporal structures which have been analyzed for several decades. At the intersection of these two fields, "chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities" resulting from the coupling of hydrodynamic and reaction-diffusion processes have been less studied. The exploration of the new instability and symmetry-breaking scenarios emerging from the interplay between chemical reactions, diffusion and convective motions is a burgeoning field in which numerous exciting problems have emerged during the last few years. These problems range from fingering instabilities of chemical fronts and reactive fluid-fluid interfaces to the dynamics of reaction-diffusion systems in the presence of chaotic mixing. The questions to be addressed are at the interface of hydrodynamics, chemistry, engineering or environmental sciences to name a few and, as a consequence, they have started to draw the attention of several communities including both the nonlinear chemical dynamics and hydrodynamics communities. The collection of papers gathered in this Focus Issue sheds new light on a wide range of phenomena in the general area of chemo-hydrodynamic patterns and instabilities. It also serves as an overview of the current research and state-of-the-art in the field.