Radical reactions on interstellar icy dust grains: Experimental investigations of elementary processes

Molecular clouds (MCs) in space are the birthplace of various molecular species. Chemical reactions occurring on the cryogenic surfaces of cosmic icy dust grains have been considered to play important roles in the formation of these species. Radical reactions are crucial because they often have low barriers and thus proceed even at low temperatures such as ∼10 K. Since the 2000s, laboratory experiments conducted under low-temperature, high-vacuum conditions that mimic MC environments have revealed the elementary physicochemical processes on icy dust grains. In this review, experiments conducted by our group in this context are explored, with a focus on radical reactions on the surface of icy dust analogues, leading to the formation of astronomically abundant molecules such as H₂, H₂O, H₂CO, and CH₃OH and deuterium fractionation processes. The development of highly sensitive, non-destructive methods for detecting adsorbates and their utilization for clarifying the behavior of free radicals on ice, which contribute to the formation of complex organic molecules, are also described.

Clathrate hydrates in interstellar environment

Clathrate hydrates (CHs) are ubiquitous in earth under high-pressure conditions, but their existence in the interstellar medium (ISM) remains unknown. Here, we report experimental observations of the formation of methane and carbon dioxide hydrates in an environment analogous to ISM. Thermal treatment of solid methane and carbon dioxide-water mixture in ultrahigh vacuum of the order of 10^-10 mbar for extended periods led to the formation of CHs at 30 and 10 K, respectively. High molecular mobility and H bonding play important roles in the entrapment of gases in the in situ formed 5¹² CH cages. This finding implies that CHs can exist in extreme low-pressure environments present in the ISM. These hydrates in ISM, subjected to various chemical processes, may act as sources for relevant prebiotic molecules.

Asymmetric Transport Mechanisms of Hydronium and Hydroxide Ions in Amorphous Solid Water: Hydroxide Goes Brownian while Hydronium Hops

The diffusion of hydronium (H3O(+)) and hydroxide (OH(-)) ions is one of the most intriguing topics in aqueous chemistry. It is considered that these ions in aqueous solutions move via sequential proton transfer events, known as the Grotthuss mechanisms. Here, we present an experimental study of the diffusion and H/D exchange of hydronium and hydroxide ions in amorphous solid water (ASW) at 140-180 K by using low-energy sputtering (LES) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) measurements. The study shows that the two species transport in ASW via fundamentally different molecular mechanisms. Whereas hydronium ions migrate via efficient proton transfer, hydroxide ions move via Brownian molecular diffusion without proton transfer. The molecular hydroxide diffusion in ASW is in stark contrast to the current view of the hydroxide diffusion mechanism in aqueous solution, which involves proton transfer.

Electron Emission from Foils and Biological Materials after Proton Impact

Electron emission spectra from thin metal foils with thin layers of water frozen on them (amorphous solid water) after fast proton impact have been measured and have been simulated in liquid water using the event-by-event track structure code PARTRAC. The electron transport model of PARTRAC has been extended to simulate electron transport down to 1 eV by including low-energy phonon, vibrational and electronic excitations as measured by Michaud et al. (Radiat. Res. 159, 3-22, 2003) for amorphous ice. Simulated liquid water yields follow in general the amorphous solid water measurements at higher energies, but overestimate them significantly at energies below 50 eV.