Picosecond pulse radiolysis: Dynamics of solvated electrons in ionic liquid and geminate ion recombination in liquid alkanes

A picosecond pulse radiolysis facility based on a laser-driven photocathode electron accelerator has been constructed. First observation of picosecond dynamics in ionic liquid of DEMMA-TFSI in radiation chemistry was reported. It is found that the electrons produced by ionization are solvated to full solvation in ionic liquid with a rate constant of 3.9×1010 s−1, and dry electrons before full solvation react rapidly with biphenyl and pyrene with a rate constant of 3.8–7.9×1011 dm3 mol−1 s−1. The geminate ion recombination in n-dodecane and n-hexane was also observed by monitoring transient optical absorption at 523 nm.