Rate constants for the reactions of O2+(a 4Πu) ions with N2, Ar, CO, CO2,H2, and O2 at relative kinetic energies 0.04–2 eV

TLDR: In this article, the rate constants for the reaction of O+2(a 4 Πu) metastable ions with N2, Ar, CO, CO+, CO2, CO+2, H2, and O2H+ have been measured for the relative kinetic energies 0.04-2 eV in a flow-drift tube.

Abstract: Rate constants for the reaction of O+2(a 4Πu) metastable ions with N2, Ar, CO, CO2, H2, and O2, which do not react with O+2(X 2Πg, v=0) ground‐state ions, have been measured for the relative kinetic energies 0.04–2 eV in a flow‐drift tube. With the exception of O2 and CO, most of the rate constants are near the respective Langevin limits. The rate constant for the reaction with CO exhibits a pronounced minimum at 0.3 eV; the other reactions show much less variation with energy. Up to 2 eV, quenching of the a 4Πu metastable state to the X 2Πg ground state of O+2 appears to be small compared to the reactive losses of O+2(a 4Πu) ions. The reactive process is charge transfer, except for CO and H2. For CO, CO+ and CO+2 are formed roughly in the ratio 5:1 and for H2, only O2H+ is formed.