Electron attachment to molecules in a cluster environment

I I Fabrikant; S Caprasecca; G A Gallup; J D Gorfinkiel

doi:10.1063/1.4706604

Electron attachment to molecules in a cluster environment

J Chem Phys. 2012 May 14;136(18):184301. doi: 10.1063/1.4706604.

Authors

I I Fabrikant¹, S Caprasecca, G A Gallup, J D Gorfinkiel

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom. ifabrikant1@unl.edu

PMID: 22583281
DOI: 10.1063/1.4706604

Abstract

Low-energy dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to the CF(2)Cl(2) and CF(3)Cl molecules in a water cluster environment is investigated theoretically. Calculations are performed for the water trimer and water hexamer. It is shown that the DEA cross section is strongly enhanced when the attaching molecule is embedded in a water cluster, and that this cross section grows as the number of water molecules in the cluster increases. This growth is explained by a trapping effect that is due to multiple scattering by water molecules while the electron is trapped in the cluster environment. The trapping increases the resonance lifetime and the negative ion survival probability. This confirms qualitatively existing experiments on electron attachment to the CF(2)Cl(2) molecule placed on the surface of H(2)O ice. The DEA cross sections are shown to be very sensitive to the position of the attaching molecule within the cluster and the orientation of the electron beam relative to the cluster.