Reactions at Surfaces: From Atoms to Complexity (Nobel Lecture)

The spatio–temporal formation of patterns on the surface during a chemical reaction is one phenomenon that can now be understood and modeled thanks to the Nobel Prize winning research on the course of heterogeneous catalysis. The picture shows a pattern formed by a feedback mechanism during the oxidation of CO. Reactions that have been illuminated by this work include the synthesis of ammonia and the purification of waste gases.