The Ice Surface: Chemical Probes of the Native Surface, Interactions and Reconstruction

Tufts University, Medford MA

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract CHE-0240172 Shultz/Tufts This research project, with the support of the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, addresses the detailed structure of the ice surface. Using the adsorption of several probe molecules combined with sum frequency generation studies of the vibrational spectroscopy of the ice surface, the location and mobility of hydrogen atoms on the ice surface will be determined. Professor Shultz and her coworkers in the Department of Chemistry at Tufts University will examine the basic structure and reactivity of the single crystal ice surface. This information will be useful for developing a basic understanding of the chemistry of ice surfaces, important in planetary atmospheres, terrestrial meteorology, and stratospheric chemical kinetics. Using the technique of sum frequency generation spectroscopy, Professor Shultz and her group at Tufts University are examining the surface of well characterized ice crystals. By examining the interaction of the ice surface with various probe molecules, the location and motion of hydrogen atoms on the ice surface will be determined. The basic information obtained from these studies is relevant to tropospheric and stratospheric molecule transport and reaction.