Time-dependent studies of geminate recombination

Gillis et al. [394g] observed the decay of the solvated electron s optical absorption in the infrared (800—2100 nm) in liquid propane at 88 and 

They noted a decay over timescales 95 and 35 ns, respectively, which was attributed to geminate ion-pair recombination (see Fig. 33). The decay of the optical absorption is independent of the dose of radiation received and continues for about lps. Rather than displaying a dependence on time as eqn. (153), i.e. at f 3/2, the experimental results are more nearly represented by either at f 1 decay to an optical density about one tenth of the maximum or by a decay as t 1/2 to zero absorption. These effects may be the recombination of ions within a spur (or cluster of ion-pairs), which is more nearly like a homogeneous reaction. The range of electrons in propane at 100 K is 10 nm [334] and the extrapolated diffusion coefficient is 10 11 m2 s 1 [320]. The timescale of recombination is 10 ps. The locally greater concentration of ions within a spur probably leads to a faster rate of reaction and is consistent with the time-scale of the reaction observed. Baxendale et al. [395] observed the decay of the infrared optical absorption of the solvated electron in methylcyclo-hexane at 160 K. They noted that the faster decay occurring over 50 ns was independent of dose and depended on time as t 1/2, i.e. the reaction rate decays as t 3/2, see eqn. (153). It was attributed to recombination of 

Bakale et al. [397] pulse irradiated the hydrocarbons cyclopentane, cyclohexane and n-hexane with 0.9 MeV electrons of duration 10 or 100 ns. The transient conductivity decreased approximately exponentially with time for low doses of radiation. The first-order decay of the conductance is probably due to electrons reacting with impurities. With higher doses, the conductance decays approximately as inverse time, characteristic of a second-order recombination of free ions. No evidence for time-dependent geminate ion-pair recombination effects was observed. 

Hummel and Luthjens [398] formed electron—cation pairs in cyclohexane by pulse radiolysis. With biphenyl added to the solvent, biphenyl cations and anions were formed rapidly on radiolysis as deduced from the optical spectra of the solutions. The optical absorption of these species decreased approximately as t 1/2 during the 500 ns or so after an 11ns pulse of electrons. The much lower mobility of the molecular biphenyl anion (or cation) than the solvated electron, es, (solvent or cation) increases the timescale over which ion recombination occurs. Reaction of the solvated electron with biphenyl (present in a large excess over the ions) produces a biphenyl anion near to the site of the solvated electron localisation. The biphenyl anion can recombine with the solvent cation or a biphenyl cation. From the relative rates of ion-pair reactions (electron-cation, electron—biphenyl cation, cation—biphenyl anion etc.), Hummel and Luthjens deduced that the cation (or hole) in cyclohexane was more mobile than the solvated electron (cf. Sect. 2.2 [352, 353]). 

Any analysis of the recombination probability of the solvated electron with a cation may be further complicated by the possibility that there are two states of the solvated electron, loosely described as a localised and a delocalised state. These are believed [399] to be associated with lower and higher drift mobilities of the solvated electron, respectively. The consequences of such a complex transport behaviour on the recombination probability of solvated electrons has been discussed by Tachiya and Mozumder [328]. 

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