Further evidence for formation of xenon dihydride from neutral hydrogen atoms: a comparison of ESR and IR spectroscopic results

A comparative study of the decay of hydrogen atoms and formation of xenon dihydride upon annealing electron-irradiated xenon/hydrocarbon mixtures revealed a remarkable correlation between these two processes. The addition of an electron scavenger had a similar effect on the yield of trapped H atoms resulting from irradiation at 15 K and the formation of XeH2 upon subsequent annealing. The results suggest that ≈70% of the initially trapped H atoms react at 40 K to yield XeH2 under the experimental conditions. The contribution of hydrogen abstraction from alkane molecules is less important and the recovery of the parent alkane molecule due to H·+R· combination is negligible.