> A team of researchers from China discovered that high-energy photons with a wavelength of 185 nm generated by a specialized 28-W ultraviolet light source could directly break the strong chemical bonds in methane and carbon dioxide. This allowed them to transform the gases into chemicals such as water-gas (CO/H2) and ethane (C2H6) under ambient conditions and even in oxygen-free outer-space-like conditions.
westurner•1mo ago
Solutions for producing 185 nm Vacuum UV light?
From Gemini 3:
> The "28-W source" mentioned in that research is almost certainly a Low-Pressure Mercury Amalgam Lamp (which naturally emits at 185 nm and 254 nm) or a Xenon Excimer Lamp (172 nm). These gas-discharge lamps are currently 100x more efficient than any experimental 185 nm LED. [...] To generate a 185 nm photon, an LED needs a semiconductor bandgap of ~6.7 eV. [...] VUV reactor [...] VACNTs inside a glass tube filled with a noble gas (like Argon [126 nm] or Xenon [172 nm])
westurner•1mo ago
westurner•1mo ago
> A team of researchers from China discovered that high-energy photons with a wavelength of 185 nm generated by a specialized 28-W ultraviolet light source could directly break the strong chemical bonds in methane and carbon dioxide. This allowed them to transform the gases into chemicals such as water-gas (CO/H2) and ethane (C2H6) under ambient conditions and even in oxygen-free outer-space-like conditions.
westurner•1mo ago
From Gemini 3:
> The "28-W source" mentioned in that research is almost certainly a Low-Pressure Mercury Amalgam Lamp (which naturally emits at 185 nm and 254 nm) or a Xenon Excimer Lamp (172 nm). These gas-discharge lamps are currently 100x more efficient than any experimental 185 nm LED. [...] To generate a 185 nm photon, an LED needs a semiconductor bandgap of ~6.7 eV. [...] VUV reactor [...] VACNTs inside a glass tube filled with a noble gas (like Argon [126 nm] or Xenon [172 nm])