Breathing current domains in globally coupled electrochemical systems: A comparison with a semiconductor model - art. no. 056229

Spatio-temporal bifurcations and complex dynamics in globally coupled intri nsically bistable electrochemical systems with an S-shaped current-voltage characteristic under galvanostatic control are studied theoretically on a o ne-dimensional domain. The results are compared with the dynamics and the b ifurcation scenarios occurring in a closely related model which describes p attern formation in semiconductors. Under galvanostatic control both system s are unstable with respect to the formation of stationary large amplitude current domains. The current domains as well as the homogeneous steady stat e exhibit oscillatory instabilities for slow dynamics of the potential drop across the double layer, or across the semiconductor device, respectively. The interplay of the different instabilities leads to complex spatio-tempo ral behavior. We find breathing current domains and chaotic spatio-temporal dynamics in the electrochemical system. Comparing these findings with the results obtained earlier for the semiconductor system, we outline bifurcati on scenarios leading to complex dynamics in globally coupled bistable syste ms with subcritical spatial bifurcations.