A BZ Assemblage Working for a Day

Abstract

Our work is focused on the experimental observation of Bielousov-Zhabotinsky reaction oscillations in ferroin loaded Dowex 50w beads in a batch reactor open to the atmosphere. We investigated the conditions for the maximum oscillation lifetime and the change of wave regimes as the answer to the applied potential. The catalyst-free solution in the batch reactor is a mixture of concentrated sulphuric acid, NaBrO3, and different ratios of malonic acid and 1,4 cyclohexanedione. We are using three types of cation Dowex 50w beads, namely type x2, x8, which differ by their level of crosslinking and cation exchange capacity. Their mesh size is 16-50 and 50-100. We investigate the influence of such parameters as the distance between a bead and the electrode and the value of electrode potential on the oscillations. Moreover, we study the character of oscillations in the function of the number of adjacent beads and the layout of the beads.The reduction of formation of CO2 bubbles has been achieved by choice of Dowex beads type, solution composition, and usage of acetone.We report oscillations with stable amplitude and varying period and lifetime over 19 hours and oscillations with decreasing amplitude with a lifetime of 10 hours. The investigated media and beads type seem to be promising candidates for experimental realization of chemical computers based on interacting oscillators.