Atomistic theory of mesoscopic pattern formation induced by bimolecular surface reactions between oppositely charged molecules

The kinetics of mesoscopic pattern formation is studied for a reversible $A+B \rightleftharpoons 0$ A + B ⇌ 0 reaction between mobile oppositely charged molecules at the interface. Using formalism of the joint correlation functions, non-equilibrium charge screening and reverse Monte Carlo methods, it is shown that labyrinth-like percolation structure induced by (even moderate-rate) reaction is principally non-steady-state one and is associated with permanently growing segregation of dissimilar reactants and aggregation of similar reactants into mesoscopic size domains. A role of short-range and long-range reactant interactions in pattern formation is discussed.