title: Effects of a constant electric field on the diffusional instability of cubic autocatalytic reaction fronts.
abstract: An electric field applied in the direction of propagation of a chemical reaction-diffusion front can affect the stability of this front with regard to diffusive instabilities. The influence of an applied constant electric field is investigated by a linear stability analysis and by nonlinear simulations of a simple chemical system based on the cubic autocatalytic reaction A-+2B--->3B-. The diffusional stability of the front is seen to depend on the intensity E and sign of the applied field, and D, the ratio diffusion coefficients of the reactant species. Depending on E, the front can become more or less diffusively unstable for a given value of D. Above a critical value of E, which depends on D, electrophoretic separation of the two fronts is observed.
authors.affiliation: Nonlinear Physical Chemistry Unit, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 231-Campus Plaine, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: D'Hernoncourt
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Wit
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Merkin