An intriguing photosensitized heterogeneous sink of nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide (N2O) seems to be efficiently destroyed at the room temperature on surfaces of quartz or Pyrex photolysis cells exposed simultaneously to UV radiation (254≤λ≤300 nm) and ozone (O3). Compared to the well-known loss of N2O on various surfaces (including quartz/sand) at high temperatures the new loss process is intriguing. The intriguing aspect is that a combination of UV photons and a gas, rather than the elevated temperature, was instrumental in the surface loss of N2O. Further studies of the loss process might reveal potential useful roles of analogous processes in environmental catalysis and atmospheric chemistry.