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Interstellar and cometary ices play an important role in the formation of planetary systems around young stars. Their main constituent is amorphous solid water (ASW). Although ASW is widely studied, vibrational energy dissipation and…
Amorphous solid water (ASW) is one of the most widely studied solid phase systems. A better understanding of the nature of inter- and intramolecular forces in ASW is, however, still required to correctly interpret the catalytic role of ASW…
In the quest to understand the formation of the building blocks of life, amorphous solid water (ASW) is one of the most widely studied molecular systems. Indeed, ASW is ubiquitous in the cold interstellar medium (ISM), where ASW-coated dust…
The diffusion of atoms and molecules in ices covering dust grains in dense clouds in interstellar space is an important but poorly characterized step in the formation of complex molecules in space. Here we report the measurement of…
Water (H2O) ice is ubiquitous component of the universe, having been detected in a variety of interstellar and Solar System environments where radiation plays an important role in its physico-chemical transformations. Although the radiation…
The formation of molecules in and on amorphous solid water (ASW) as it occurs in interstellar space releases appreciable amounts of energy that need to be dissipated to the environment. Here, energy transfer between CO$_2$ formed within and…
Interstellar ices are mainly composed of amorphous solid water (ASW) containing small amounts of hypervolatiles, such as O2, whose diffusion-limited reactions play a key role in space chemistry. Although O2 is an important precursor…
Interstellar ice grains are believed to play a key role in the formation of many of the simple and complex organic species detected in space. However, many fundamental questions on the physicochemical processes linked to the formation and…
Context. Comets are small celestial bodies made of ice, dust, and rock that orbit the Sun. Understanding their behavior as they warm up at perihelion unveils many pieces of information about the interior and general morphology of the ices…
The need to characterize ices coating dust grains in dense interstellar clouds arises from the importance of ice morphology in facilitating the diffusion and storage of radicals and reaction products in ices, a well-known place for the…
Surface chemistry on interstellar dust grains is recognized as a central component in astrochemical models, representing a plausible formation route for many of the observed complex molecular species. However, key parameters governing…
Context. Carbon monoxide (CO) is arguably the most important molecule for interstellar organic chemistry. Its binding to amorphous solid water (ASW) ice regulates both diffusion and desorption processes. Accurately characterizing the CO…
The unique structural properties of interfacial water are at the heart of a vast range of important processes in electrochemistry, climate science, and biophysics. At interfaces, water molecules exhibit preferential orientations and an…
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a class of synthetic chemical compounds widely used as coatings to lower surface energies. Yet the microscopic mechanisms of their weak interaction with water and organic compounds remain poorly…
The knowledge of the binding energy of molecules on astrophysically relevant ices can help to obtain an estimate of the desorption rate, i.e. the molecules residence time on the surface. This represents an important parameter for…
One believed path to Interstellar Complexes Organic Molecules (iCOMs) formation inside the Interstellar Medium (ISM) is through chemical recombination at the surface of amorphous solid water (ASW) mantle covering the silicate-based core of…
We investigated the behavior of H$_2$, main constituent of the gas phase in dense clouds, after collision with amorphous solid water (ASW) surfaces, one of the most abundant chemical species of interstellar ices. We developed a general…
The interstellar medium (ISM) is all but empty. To date, more than 300 molecules have already been discovered. Because of the extremely low temperature, the gas-phase chemistry is dominated by barrierless exothermic reactions of radicals…
We consider the possibility that solid molecular hydrogen is present in interstellar space. If so cosmic-rays and energetic photons cause ionisation in the solid leading to the formation of H6+. This ion is not produced by gas-phase…
The diffusion of molecules on interstellar grain surfaces is one of the most important driving forces for the molecular complexity in the interstellar medium. Due to the lack of laboratory measurements, astrochemical modeling of grain…