Nonlinear phenomena in heterogeneous catalysis

The aim of this talk was to review recent progress in theoretical modeling of pattern formation during catalytic chemical reactions on metal surfaces. The attention was focused on two kinds of nonlinear phenomena at different characteristic length scales. The reaction-diffusion models well describe relatively large nonequilibrium structures, such as rotating spiral waves with the wavelength in the range of tens of micrometers. Much smaller submicrometer and nanoscale nonequilibrium patterns appear as a result of attractive interactions between adsorbed molecules and an interplay between the first-order phase transitions and chemical reactions in the system. These short-scale structures are analyzed in the framework of mesoscopic kinetic equations.