TEMPERATURE AND ISOTOPE EFFECTS ON THE SHAPE OF THE OPTICAL-ABSORPTION SPECTRUM OF SOLVATED ELECTRONS IN WATER

The optical absorption spectra of solvated electrons in H2O and D2O have been measured at 274, 298, 340, and 380 K. All the spectra were fitted very well with the Gaussian and Lorentzian shape functions at the low- and high-energy sides of the absorption maximum, respectively, excluding the high-energy tail. The spectrum does not shift uniformly with temperature. The temperature coefficient of absorption decreases rapidly with increasing energy on the low-energy side of the absorption maximum, while it changes only slightly on the high-energy side. When the temperature increases the Lorentzian width remains constant, the Gaussian width varies proportionally to T1/2, and the spectrum becomes more symmetrical. On going from H2O to D2O we found that the spectrum at a given A/Amax shows a shift of +0.05 eV in the low-energy wing. The shift decreases with increasing energy, reaching 0.03 eV at the absorption maximum. On the high-energy side of the band the shift becomes negative at hν > 2.2 eV. The shift on the low-energy side seems to be related to the difference of the zero-point energies of the inter- and intramolecular vibrations. The wavelength dependence of the temperature and isotope effects is consistent with the model that different types of excitation occur on the low- and high-energy sides of the absorption band. The temperature and isotopic dependence of the low-energy side are consistent with its width being due to phonon interactions. © 1979 American Chemical Society.