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Fluctuating Dynamics of Nanoscale Chemical Oscillations: Theory and Experiments

par Barroo, Cédric ;Gaspard, Pierre ;Visart de Bocarmé, Thierry ;De Decker, Yannick
Référence The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 6, page (2189-2193)
Publication Publié, 2015

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

Chemical oscillations are observed in a variety of reactive systems, including biological cells, for the functionality of which they play a central role. However, at such scales, molecular fluctuations are expected to endanger the regularity of these behaviors. The question of the mechanism by which robust oscillations can nevertheless emerge is still open. In this work, we report on the experimental investigation of nanoscale chemical oscillations observed during the NO2 + H2 reaction on platinum, using field electron microscopy. We show that the correlation time and the variance of the period of oscillations are connected by a universal constraint, as predicted theoretically for systems subjected to a phenomenon called phase diffusion. These results open the way to a better understanding, modeling, and control of nanoscale oscillators.