Traveling waves in the CO oxidation on Pt(110): Theory

A dynamic model designed to describe bistability and kinetic oscillations of the reaction rate during the oxidation of CO on a Pt(110) single crystal surface is extended by incorporating surface diffusion of adsorbed CO in order to analyze the properties of traveling waves propagating on the catalytically active surface. In the range of control parameters (partial pressure of oxygen and carbon monoxide and temperature) which corresponds to excitable dynamics, solitary pulses and periodic wave trains can be triggered. Using both asymptotic and numerical methods, the velocity and shape of the pulses as well as the dispersion relation for periodic wave trains are determined and compared to experimental data where available.