STRUCTURE AND MORPHOLOGY OF GAS-PHASE-DEPOSITED MOLECULAR NITROGEN

Solid molecular nitrogen, prepared under the routinely applied experimental conditions of matrix isolation, exhibits the equilibrium fcc structure which is stable at temperatures below 35.6 K. The Bragg reflections are, however, broadened owing to a mean crystallite diameter of 400 angstrom. X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy applied to surface films of Ar and CH4, respectively, clearly reveal a porous structure of the gas-phase-deposited N2 sample.