Vibrationally-dependent molecular dynamics in mutual neutralisation reactions of molecular oxygen ions

Mathias Poline, Arnaud Dochain, Stefan Rosén, MingChao Ji, Henrik Cederquist, Henning Zettergren, Henning T. Schmidt, Mats Larsson, Shaun G. Ard, Nicholas S. Shuman, Albert A. Viggiano and Richard D. Thomas ()
Additional contact information
Mathias Poline: Stockholm University
Arnaud Dochain: Stockholm University
Stefan Rosén: Stockholm University
MingChao Ji: Stockholm University
Henrik Cederquist: Stockholm University
Henning Zettergren: Stockholm University
Henning T. Schmidt: Stockholm University
Mats Larsson: Stockholm University
Shaun G. Ard: Air Force Research Laboratory
Nicholas S. Shuman: Air Force Research Laboratory
Albert A. Viggiano: Air Force Research Laboratory
Richard D. Thomas: Stockholm University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Product distributions and dynamics of low-collision-energy mutual neutralisation reactions involving even simple molecular ions are largely unknown. Reactions which involve oxygen ions, e.g., $${{{\rm{O}}}}_{2}^{+}$$ O 2 + with O−, are expected to be important in atmospheric phenomena such as sprites and in high-pressure air or oxygen discharges. Here we show, by combining cryogenically stored-and-merged ion beams with coincident product-imaging techniques, that the $${{{\rm{O}}}}_{2}^{+}$$ O 2 + with O− mutual neutralisation reaction results predominantly in dissociation of the $${{{\rm{O}}}}_{2}^{+}$$ O 2 + molecule. Three competing reaction pathways yields both O(3P) (84%) and O(1D) (16%) products, but no O(1S) products. Analysis of the momentum-correlated dynamics of the reaction reveals the dominance of two-step mechanisms involving the 3pλu and 3sσg Rydberg states of O2. Furthermore, use of the 16,18 $${{{\rm{O}}}}_{2}^{+}$$ O 2 + isotopologue shows that the reaction products strongly depend on the vibrational levels of the $${{{\rm{O}}}}_{2}^{+}$$ O 2 + ion for the channel leading to two O(1D) products.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64198-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64198-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64198-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().