Pentanary Cross-Diffusion in Water-in-Oil Microemulsions Loaded with Two Components of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction

We measure cross-diffusion coefficients in a five-component system, an aerosol OT (AOT) water-in-oil microemulsion loaded with two constituents of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction (H2O/AOT/BZ1/BZ2/octane). The species BZ1 is either NaBr, an inhibitor of the BZ reaction, or ferroin, a catalyst for the reaction. As species BZ2, we choose Br-2. an intermediate in the reaction. The cross-diffusion coefficients between BZ1 and BZ2 are found to be negative, which can be understood in terms of complexation between these species. Using a four-variable model for the BZ reaction, we find that the cross-diffusion coefficients measured here can lead to a noticeable shift in the onset of Turing instability in the BZ-AOT system.