Electron-triggered chemistry in HNO₃/H₂O complexes.

ABSTRACT: Polar stratospheric clouds, which consist mainly of nitric acid containing ice particles, play a pivotal role in stratospheric chemistry. We investigate mixed nitric acid-water clusters (HNO₃)_m(H₂O)_n, m ≈ 1-6, n ≈ 1-15, in a laboratory molecular beam experiment using electron attachment and mass spectrometry and interpret our experiments using DFT calculations. The reactions are triggered by the attachment of free electrons (0-14 eV) which leads to subsequent intracluster ion-molecule reactions. In these reactions, the nitrate anion NO₃^- turns out to play the central role. This contradicts the electron attachment to the gas-phase HNO₃ molecule, which leads almost exclusively to NO₂^-. The nitr

SUBMITTER: Lengyel J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5450009 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature