Effects of external global noise on the catalytic CO oxidation on Pt(110).

Oxidation reaction of CO on a single platinum crystal is a reaction-diffusion system that may exhibit bistable, excitable, and oscillatory behavior. We studied the effect of a stochastic signal artificially introduced into the system through the partial pressure of CO. First, the external signal is employed as a turbulence suppression tool, and second, it modifies the boundaries in the bistable transition between the CO and oxygen covered phases. Experiments using photoemission electron microscopy together with numerical simulations performed with the Krischer-Eiswirth-Ertl model are presented.