Enhancement of photosensitivity in the alcohol-added ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction system

The observation of photoinduced image formation in the alcohol-added ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is reported. It is found that alcohol acts as a reagent that reduces the activation energy both of the ferroin-catalyzed and the Ce-catalyzed BZ reaction system and enhances the photosensitivity. By comparing the photosensitivity and photoinduced image formation for the ferroin-catalyzed BZ system with and without alcohol, we concluded that the photosensitivity of this alcohol-added BZ reaction system is enhanced by the presence of alcohol. This enhancement of the photosensitivity was confirmed in other alcohols such as ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol.