Destabilization of Turing structures by electric fields.

The dynamic behavior of hexagonal Turing patterns in the chlorine dioxide-iodine-malonic acid reaction was studied in a newly developed open reactor under the influence of externally applied weak directed current up to 17.5 mA. A transition from stationary hexagonal patterns to spots moving parallel to the direction of the applied electric field could be observed. The velocity of the drift increases monotonously with the applied current. Experimental results could be qualitatively reproduced in numerical simulations with a reaction-diffusion-advection model, based on a realistic kinetic mechanism.