Nanoscale changes induce microscale effects in Turing patterns

Abstract

A water-in-oil microemulsion loaded with a reaction-diffusion chemical system (Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction) is able to exhibit Turing patterns that are believed to be responsible for differentiation processes in Nature. Using polymers, such as polyethylene oxide, longer than the droplet size changes the distribution of droplets due to cluster formation. This difference in the nanoscale has relevant consequences in the observed the Turing pattern's wavelength, which is three orders of magnitude larger than the droplet size.