Autocatalytic reaction dynamics in systems crowded by catalytic obstacles

Abstract

Reaction and diffusion dynamics in systems crowded by catalytic obstacles are investigated using a particle-based mesoscopic simulation method. The focus of the work is on effects of correlations induced by the presence of the catalytic obstacles and solvent collective modes. As an example, a system is considered where the reaction A + C → B + C takes place on the surfaces of the C catalytic obstacles, while the autocatalytic reaction A + B → 2 A occurs in the bulk of the solution. It is shown that mean-field, mass-action rate laws break down and fail to describe the reaction dynamics for large volume fractions of obstacles. The influence of hydrodynamics on the reaction and diffusion dynamics is also studied.