The oxidation of Carbon with Atomic Oxygen

Abstract

Atomic oxygen, produced by dissociation of molecular oxygen in a radio frequency field, will react with amorphous or graphitic carbon at room temperatures and both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide appear in the product gases. Carbon monoxide appears to be the primary product of oxidation of carbon, the carbon dioxide being produced by direct combination of carbon monoxide with oxygen which takes place mainly at the carbon surface. Atomic oxygen will also react with carbon dioxide to produce carbon monoxide and molecular oxygen but the quantity of carbon monoxide produced by this reaction is small compared to that produced by direct oxidation of the carbon.