Vacuum-ultraviolet photolysis of methane at 3 K: synthesis of carbon clusters up to C20.
Samples of pure methane and of methane dispersed in solid neon at 3 K subjected to irradiation at wavelengths less than 165 nm with light from a synchrotron yielded varied products that were identified through their infrared absorption spectra, including CH3, C2H2, C2H3, C2H4, C2H6, C4H2, C4H4, C5H2, C8H2, CnH with n = 1-5, and carbon chains Cn with n = 3-20. The efficiency of photolysis of methane and the nature of the photoproducts depended on the concentration of methane and the wavelength selected for irradiation; an addition of H2 into solid neon enhanced the formation of long carbon chains.
National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, 101 Hsin-Ann Road, Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu 30076, Taiwan.
Meng-Yeh
MY
Lin
Jen-Iu
JI
Lo
Hsiao-Chi
HC
Lu
Sheng-Lung
SL
Chou
Yu-Chain
YC
Peng
Bing-Ming
BM
Cheng
J F
JF
Ogilvie