Temperature dependence of low-energy electron attachment to CHCl 3

Abstract

Dependence of the rate constants for electron attachment to CHCl 3 on mean electron energy from thermal to ∼2 eV has been investigated at ambient temperatures between 300 and 600 K. The rate constant at thermal energy increases dramatically with temperature with an activation energy of 0.13 ± 0.01 eV, which is obtained by the Arrhenius plot of the present rate constants, while those at higher mean electron energies increase moderately with temperature. The attachment cross sections obtained by unfolding the rate constants show two peaks at 0 and 0.3 eV at 300 K, but only the zero-energy peak increases dramatically with temperature. The importance of vibrationally excited states in the deformation mode of CHCl 3 has been proposed to interpret the cross sections observed at 600 K.