A step towards low‐cost thin‐film electronics is achieved, based on the microwave‐assisted synthesis of In2O3:Sn (ITO) nanoparticles in ionic liquids (see figure). Ink‐jet printed layers of the ITO nanoparticles on plastics exhibit a high transmittance and conductivity, without the need for performing any conventional thermal post‐treatment. Significantly improved layers with higher conductivities are to be expected from high‐quality printing.

The low-pressure association reactions for the proton bound dimers of acetone and a number of deuterium substituted variants have been studied using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance spectrometry. The association rate constants for the reactions (CH3)2COH+ + (CH&CO, (CH&COD+ + (CH&CO, (CD3)2-COH+ + (CD&CO, and (CD&COD+ + (CD&CO have been studied as a function of pressure, and from these data the unimolecular dissociation rate constants, kb, of the intermediate chemically activated adducts as well as their radiative cooling rates, kra, were derived. The kb were measured to be in the range of (1.49-4.9) X lo4 s-I at 47 OC, corresponding to adduct lifetimes of 20-67 ~.ls. These lifetimes were strongly dependent on deuterium labeling of the acetone. The radiative rate constants, k,,, vary between 96 and 147 s-l with little influence of the deuterium labeling in the methyl groups, but a significant dependence when the dimer is bridged by H+ us D+. A decrease in the temperature of the ion cyclotron resonance cell by about 20 OC results in a decrease in kb by about a factor of 2 with only a slight decrease in kra. These results are discussed in terms of RRKM theory, statistical thermodynamics, and the mechanism of spontaneous emission of radiation from chemically activated ions.

Studies of unimolecular dissociation (MIKES) of ions formed in a chemical ionization ion source show that under CI conditions, the reaction of CH 3 + with CH 3 OH or CH 3 OCH 3 leads to the covalent structures (CH 3 ) 2 -OH + or (CH 3 ) 3 O + . In contrast a FT-ICR study indicates that these reactions lead either to covalent structures by C-O bond formation and to [CH 3 + /CH 3 OH] or [CH 3 + /CH 3 OCH 3 ] ion-neutral complexes. Ab initio calculations confirm that such complexes correspond to minima on the potential energy surface. Their geometries correspond to a species in which a hydrogen of the CH 3 + cation is weakly bonded to the oxygen of the neutral. The interaction energies are ∼20 kcal/mol.