Inverse photoemission of pyridine on silver (111)

Inverse photoemission, together with UPS and EELS, is used to obtain information on the position of the affinity level of pyridine adsorbed on Ag(111). The unresolved a₂ and b₁ affinity levels (AL)(1.20 and 0.62 eV above the vacuum level for free pyridine) are found at E_F+(2.9±0.2) eV (indicating a Coulomb relaxation of about 2.1 eV). The reported phase transition in the first adsorbed monolayer of pyridine had no influence on the position and halfwidth of the AL nor on the electronic excitation intensities. The assignment of UPS structure is discussed. Relaxation is different for unoccupied and occupied states. The second layer “initial state” model of photoionization is not confirmed.