Endothermic reactions of Ni+ with H2, HD and D2

An ion-beam apparatus is employed to study the reaction of Ni⁺ with H₂, HD, and D₂ as a function of kinetic energy. These reactions lead to the endothermic formation of NiH⁺, NiH⁺ and NiD⁺, and NiD⁺, respectively. Interpretation of the threshold for these processes yields the average bond energies, D⁰(Ni⁺H) = 1.86 ± 0.09 eV and D⁰(Ni⁺D) = 1.90 ± 0.14 eV. The total reaction cross sections for all three systems are similar; however, a striking isotope effect is observed for Ni⁺ reacting with HD. The dependence of the cross sections on relative kinetic energy is discussed in terms of simple models for reaction.