Percolation-dependent Reaction Rates in the Etching of Disordered Solids

TL;DR

This paper presents a statistical model showing how disorder and temperature influence etching kinetics in disordered solids, revealing percolation effects at low temperatures and Gaussian fluctuations at high temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model linking disorder and temperature to reaction rates, highlighting the role of percolation and avalanche phenomena in chemical kinetics.

Findings

Percolation threshold governs low-temperature reaction times

Reaction rate fluctuations are Gaussian at high temperatures

Low-temperature kinetics exhibit power law tails due to avalanches

Abstract

A prototype statistical model for the etching of a random solid is investigated in order to assess the influence of disorder and temperature on the dissolution kinetics. At low temperature, the kinetics is dominated by percolation phenomena, and the percolation threshold determines the global reaction time. At high temperature, the fluctuations of the reaction rate are Gaussian, whereas at low temperature they exhibit a power law tail due to chemical avalanches. This is an example where microscopic disorder directly induces non-classical chemical kinetics.