In designing a photocatalytic plastic waste to water receptacle, the light array for the inside is the crucial component, and to determine what lights, in addition to ultraviolet, may be effective and complementary in expediently transmuting PET, for example. The included data table compares the nanometer equivalencies of ionization potentials (in eV) for Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen and Water. That is, how much energy it would take to remove or add valence electrons. What the data reveals thus far is there is potential crossover with frequency bands, notably in the Ultraviolet, Cyan (blue-green), Orange, Red and Near-Infrared ranges. This is the next article post in an ongoing series about this photochemistry project, the goal being a packaged process that can be sustainably upscaled.
The data table proceeds with the idea of using light harmonics of the [eV to] nanometer values to achieve a safe spectral range for usability in public settings. And so this also aims to be a non combustible process.
Harmonic series are closely associated with music and acoustics, yet also apply to physics and optics. (3) Harmonic frequencies of a ‘fundamental’ are resonant integer multiples of the initial frequency.
Here, the harmonic integer multiples 1-14 are shown for ionization potentials, and 1-5 descending for electron affinities. For this process being designed, it is desirable for water to gain electrons.
As mentioned, there are common frequency bands here that could perhaps accomplish those tasks simultaneously. However, it remains unknown for the moment how effective this will be in physical testing. And perhaps sonic harmonic conversions in hertz would be a useful addition to the data.
Note: Thus far ultraviolet alone showed initial results in rudimentary experimentation. Please see previous articles for details.
It’s also convenient that there are shared ionization values between Hydrogen and Oxygen. These are roughly the same, both rounding to 13.6 eV.
Another conspicuous feature of this data table is the nested patterns of periodic numbers found in the valence IP nanometer harmonics of Carbon.
Some information from this table, like atomic numbers, can be collected from the periodic table of elements; so this feature with Carbon is an intriguing deeper numeric expression of periodicity or repetition, and then arithmetic sequence. The relevancy to this set experiments is, however, unknown.
Other common properties that are apparently relevant, though: Both Carbon and Water have tetrahedral or pyramidal molecular geometries. Also, Water and PET have an important bond angle in common, 104.5; Carbon and PET do too at 109.5.
In conclusion, this collection of data during design of experiment is an important guide to infer logical composition of the light array by comparing elemental properties, to hopefully maximize efficiency and resources. Based on the comparison of IP and EA harmonics among valence electrons, the combination of spectral bands suggested here and specified in the second table are Ultraviolet, Cyan, Orange, Red and Infrared.
1. “SOLAR AND ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION” | 2012 | National Library of Medicine
National Center for Biotechnology Information | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK304366/#:~:text=The%20wavelength%20of%20UV%20radiation,(100–280%20nm)
2. “Ionization energies of the elements (data page)“ | Wikipedia |https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization_energies_of_the_elements_(data_page)
3. “Generation Of Optical Harmonics” | PA Franken | 1961 | https://journals.aps.org/prl/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevLett.7.118