Initiation of Waves in BZ Encapsulated Vesicles Using Light - Towards Design of Computing Architectures

A gas free analogue of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction catalysed by ferroin and encapsulated in phospholipid stabilised vesicles is reported. A reaction mixture which exhibits spontaneous oscillation and excitation transfer between vesicles was formulated. By adjusting the reagent concentrations a quiescent state with fewer spontaneous oscillations was achieved. Using relatively low power laser sources of specific wavelengths (green 532nm and blue 405nm) it was shown that waves could be reproducibly initiated within the BZ vesicles. Furthermore, despite the reduced excitability of the system overall the initiated waves exhibited vesicle to vesicle transfer. It was possible to manipulate single vesicles and design simple circuits based on a 2D validation of collision based circuits. Therefore, we conclude that this BZ system exhibits promise for computing applications based on 3D networks of vesicles.