Oxygen Loss in the Photolysis of CO2 at 1236 Å

Abstract

The photolysis of CO2 has been carried out using a Kr resonance lamp, giving a light intensity of 1–2×1015 quanta/sec at 1236 Å. The O2/CO ratio in the products has been measured as a function of CO2 pressure, and it appears that the O2 loss reported by other investigators is due to a wall reaction. The active species in the system which causes the O2 loss is shown to be neither oxygen atoms nor ozone, and the contention that it is a CO3 molecule has been strengthened. The mechanism by which O2 is formed in CO2photolysis at this wavelength seems to be by the reaction of two CO3 molecules, rather than by oxygen‐atom recombination.