Dissociative Excitation of Nitromethane Induced by Electron Impact in the Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrum

TL;DR

This study investigates the UV-visible emission spectrum of nitromethane induced by 50 eV electron impact, revealing new dissociative excitation channels and providing high-resolution spectral data for a molecule relevant to explosives and propellants.

Contribution

The paper presents the first detailed high-resolution emission spectrum of nitromethane under electron impact, discovering new dissociative excitation pathways and measuring relative emission cross sections.

Findings

Identification of new dissociative excitation channels

Detection of CH, CN, NH, OH, NO, and hydrogen Balmer emissions

High-resolution spectral data of nitromethane emission spectrum

Abstract

The excitation of nitromethane CH$_3$NO$_2$, which is an important propellant and prototypic molecule for large class of explosives, has been investigated by electron impact and subsequent emission of photons in the UV-VIS spectral region between 300 nm and 670 nm. Emission spectrum of nitromethane was recorded at an electron energy of 50 eV. New dissociative excitation channels were discovered through the appearance of different CH, CN, NH, OH and NO bands, and the Balmer series of atomic hydrogen. In addition, relative emission cross sections were recorded for the transitions of selected fragments. The emission spectrum was captured at significantly higher resolution in comparison to previous studies.