Radiolysis in the adsorbed state. II. N2O adsorbed on silica gel and zirconia

Abstract

The 60Co γ-radiolysis of N2O adsorbed on silica gel and zirconia has been studied. In both systems a large fraction of the energy absorbed in the solid is able to cause decomposition of the N2O. For the silica gel – N2O system, studies with electron scavengers have shown that on gels degassed at low temperatures, electrons are precursors for a large fraction of the yield and about 1 G unit of nitrogen is produced by other processes. The total nitrogen yield is smaller for gels degassed at high temperatures, but the yield of nitrogen produced by direct excitation stays constant at 1 G unit.Experiments using electron scavengers with the zirconia–N2O system have shown that direct excitation of the solid is responsible for most of the nitrogen yield at 7 G units on high surface zirconia. Studies of nitrogen yields on a number of zirconias showed that the range over which energy is transferred is about 50 Å.