Chaos on the Nanometer Scale

Sometimes, chemical reactions do not solely run stationary in one direction, but they show spatio-temporal oscillations. At TU Wien, a transition to chaotic behavior on the nanometer scale has now been observed.

Illustration of a rhodium nanocrystal
Yuri Suchorski (top), Keita Tokuda (bottom), Johannes Zeininger, Maximilian Raab, Günther Rupprechter (l.t.r.)

Yuri Suchorski (top), Keita Tokuda (bottom), Johannes Zeininger, Maximilian Raab, Günther Rupprechter (l.t.r.)

Chaotic behavior is typically known from large systems: for example, from weather, from asteroids in space that are simultaneously attracted by several large celestial bodies, or from swinging pendulums that are coupled together. On the atomic scale, however, one does normally not encounter chaos – other effects predominate. Now, for the first time, scientists at TU Wien have been able to detect clear indications of chaos on the nanometer scale – in chemical reactions on tiny rhodium crystals. The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

For more information see:

www.tuwien.at/en/tu-wien/news/news-articles/news/chaos-auf-nanometer-skala, opens an external URL in a new window

Original publication:

M. Raab et al.: Emergence of chaos in a compartmentalized catalytic reaction nanosystem; Nature Communications, 14, 736 (2023). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36434-y , opens an external URL in a new window

 Research supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF; P32772-N and SFB TACO F81-P08).