https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2009-00891-1
Interfacial instabilities driven by chemical reactions
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
2
Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, CP. 231, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
3
School of Mathematics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK
Corresponding author: S.Kalliadasis@imperial.ac.uk
We investigate the interaction of thin films with chemical reactions by using as a model system a horizontal film with a reactive mixture of insoluble surfactants on its free surface. The reaction is modeled by a bistable/excitable FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) prototype. The chemical reaction can destabilize the film leading to the propagation of solitary pulses on its free surface.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2009
