Influence of External Electric Fields on Reaction Fronts in the Iodate−Arsenous Acid System

Abstract

The propagation of arsenous acid−iodate reaction fronts of different net stoichiometries in externally applied dc electric fields is studied for a range of both electric field intensities and initial compositions of the reacting mixture (represented by the stoichiometric factor S0). Regions of three different types of net stoichiometry in the parametric space ℰ/V vs S0, where ℰ is the intensity of the applied electric field and V the reaction front propagation velocity, are determined both experimentally and by analyzing a reaction−diffusion−migration model that includes a realistic kinetic scheme of the reaction studied. Both agreement with and discrepancies between the theoretical predictions and experimental findings are discussed.