Electron impact ionization cross sections of the CO2 clusters

The modified Jain-Khare semi-empirical formalism for the evaluation of differential and integral electron impact ionization cross sections for molecules has been extended to the evaluation of cross sections for the electron ionization of CO2 clusters: (CO2)(240) and (CO2)(1700). The energy dependent differential cross sections are evaluated at the incident electron energies of 50, 100 and 200 eV. The integral total ionization cross sections have been calculated in the energy range varying from ionization thresholds to 1000 eV which revealed a good agreement with the available experimental and the theoretical data. The ionization rate coefficients have also been evaluated using the presently calculated ionization cross sections and Maxwell-Boltzmann energy distributions. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.