- Names
-
- E. Quirico
- G. Montagnac
- V. Lees
- P. F. McMillan
- C. Szopa
- G. Cernogora
- J.-N. Rouzaud
- P. Simon
- J.-M. Bernard
- P. Coll
- N. Fray
- R. D. Minard
- F. Raulin
- B. Reynard
- B. Schmitt
- Title
- New experimental constraints on the composition and structure of tholins
- Abstract
- Powdered samples of carbon-nitrogen-hydrogen "tholins" that mimic Titan's atmosphere aerosols were produced under levitation conditions in the laboratory with a dusty plasma (PAMPRE experiment) using different initial N 2:CH 4 gas mixtures and studied using UV Raman and infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Comparison between the tholins produced in the PAMPRE experiments and samples prepared by other techniques reveal that they form a fairly homogeneous family of hydrogenated carbon nitride materials. Wall effects during the PAMPRE deposition experiments and other were found to have little effect on the chemical structure of tholins. The first-order UV Raman bands of the disordered carbonaceous materials point to a large contribution of sp 2 clusters present compared with olefinic C dbnd N or C dbnd C groupings, whereas features at 690 and 980 cm-1 suggest $C_3N_3$ rings are present as a species inserted in the macromolecular network. Diffraction techniques do not indicate the presence of large polyaromatic species in any of the tholins studied, whatever their nitrogen concentration, in disagreement with certain previous observations. This precludes the idea that the nature and degree of absorption in the visible range is controlled by the size of polyaromatic species, as has been observed in series of carbon-based materials obtained via thermal processing. Infrared spectroscopy analysis of the tholins has confirmed earlier identifications of chemical groups present including primary amines, nitriles, and alkyl moieties such as $CH_2/CH_3$, but has ruled out $CH_2/CH_3$ branches appearing on secondary or tertiary amines. Similar analyses were also performed on a polymeric $(HCN)_x$ material, which was found to present several similarities with the tholins, hence suggesting similar polymerization processes.
- Keywords
- spectroscopy, transmission spectra, absorbance spectra, Raman spectra, mid-IR, data analysis, band position, band width, band intensity, organic matter, tholins, poly-HCN, kerogen, melamine, triazine, carbon nitride, C3N3, Titan
- Content
- instrument-technique, material-matter, spectral data, band list data, planetary sciences
- Document type
- article
- Publication state
- published
- Doi
- 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.07.012
- Identifiers