In this CAREER award, funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms Program of the Chemistry Division Professor Istvan Kiss of Saint Louis University, will study the effects of self-organization, such as oscillations and pattern formation, on the reactive properties of complex electrochemical systems.
Current-generating chemical reactions of practical importance (e.g., in batteries and fuel cells) are often far from their thermodynamic equilibrium state. Such systems are capable of exhibiting large temporal and spatial variations of chemical concentrations, which, in turn, can significantly alter reactive properties of the system. Professor Kiss and his students will explore cathode-anode interactions, dynamical features of spatially organized reactive electrochemical media, and complex kinetic responses of bioelectrocatalytic reactions. This will be accomplished with a multidisciplinary, methodological approach in which the mathematical and experimental toolkits of nonlinear science are combined with recent technical developments of on-chip electrode fabrication, microfluidics, and bioelectrocatalyis.
Identification of underlying organizing principles and experimental characterization of far-from-equilibrium systems have broad applications in physical, chemical, and biological systems. The investigation of coupled cathode-anode multi-electrode flow cells fills in the gap between the existing knowledge on complex behavior of electrochemical systems and the modeling needs of industrial applications of galvanic and electrolytic cells. Oscillatory electrochemical media allow for testing recent theories on synchronization and network dynamics that have importance in generation of circadian rhythms and hypersynchronous neural discharges in epileptic seizures. Characterization of emergent reactive properties of bioelectrocatalytic systems has broader impact in clean technology: features of spatial and temporal enzyme activities affect power curves of bioelectrodes.
In this context, Professor Kiss will develop and demonstrate a set of experiments about self-organizing systems. These experiments (e.g., on chaotic corrosion) will show how to connect notions from different disciplines to interpret emergent phenomena. They will be used as an outreach tool to convey the importance multidisciplinary science, to distribute recent theories and notions in Nonlinear Science to current and future biologists, chemists, and physicists, and to educate the public about the emergence of complex, 'intelligent' behavior of abiotic systems.
