Snowballing effect for electron solvation in dilute solutions of polar molecules in nonpolar solvents

Abstract

Electron solvation in dilute solutions of polar molecules in nonpolar solvents involves a formation of a localized state by electron attachment to a pre-existing cluster, followed by subsequent attachment of polar molecules to that charged cluster. We studied the effect of subsequent attachment of polar molecules on the transition energy of the solvated electron by use of the continuum model, and found that subsequent attachment has a negligible effect on the transition energy. An implification of this finding is that the snowballing effect cannot probably be observed by means of optical methods. The relative importance of short-range and long-range interactions in electron solvation is also discussed.