Abstract
Sustained oscillations in the concentrations of bromide and chlorine dioxide and the potential of a platinum electrode are observed in acidic solutions containing brómate, chlorite, and bromide in a flow reactor. The bromide flow may be replaced by a flow of any of several reducing agents (T, S032-, Fe(CN)64", As033“, Sn2+) capable of generating bromide from brómate. The bromate-chlorite reaction is autocatalytic in batch and bistable in flow. It is shown how addition of the feedback species (bromide or other reductant) leads to oscillation. A nine-step mechanism is proposed which, in a series of computer simulations, gives qualitative agreement with the observed autocatalysis, bistability, and oscillation.