Reaction of N2O5 with H2O on Carbonaceous Surfaces

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100410a025

The heterogeneous reaction of N2O5 with commercially available ground charcoal in the absence of H2O revealed a physisorption process (γ=3*10^-3) together with a redox reaction generating mostly NO.Slow HNO3 formation was the result of the interaction of N2O5 with H2O that was still adsorbed after prolonged pumping at 10^-4 Torr.In the presence of H2O, the same processes with γ=5*10^-3 are observed.The redox reaction dominates in the early stages of the reaction, whereas the hydrolysis gains importance later at the expense of the redox reaction.The rate law for HNO3 generation was found to be d/dt=k_bi with k_bi, the effective bimolecular rate constants, for 10 mg of carbon being (1.6+/-0.3)*10^-13 cm³/s.