Controlling an Electron‐Transfer Reaction at a Metal Surface by Manipulating Reactant Motion and Orientation

The loss or gain of vibrational energy in collisions of an NO molecule with the surface of a gold single crystal proceeds by electron transfer. With the advent of new optical pumping and orientation methods, we can now control all molecular degrees of freedom important to this electron‐transfer‐mediated process, providing the most detailed look yet into the inner workings of an electron‐transfer reaction and showing how to control its outcome. We find the probability of electron transfer increases with increasing translational and vibrational energy as well as with proper orientation of the reactant. However, as the vibrational energy increases, translational excitation becomes unimportant and proper orientation becomes less critical. One can understand the interplay of all three control parameters from simple model potentials.     

RG+ formation following photolysis of NO-RG via the Ã-X transition: a velocity map imaging study

Kr(+) and Xe(+) formation following photodissociation of NO-RG (RG = Kr or Xe) molecules via the ?-X electronic transition in the 44,150-44,350 cm(-1) region has been investigated using velocity map imaging. Nuclear kinetic energy release (nKER) spectra indicate that the NO cofragment is produced in multiple vibrational states of the electronic ground state, with a high degree of rotational excitation. Photofragment angular distributions and nKERs are consistent with photo-induced charge transfer at the two-photon level followed by dissociative ionization at the three-photon level. RG(+) angular distributions showing highly parallel character relative to the laser polarization axis are indicative of a high degree of molecular alignment in the dissociating species.     

State-resolved investigation of the photodesorption dynamics of NO from (NO)2 on Ag nanoparticles of various sizes in comparison with Ag(111)

The translational and internal state energy distributions of NO desorbed by laser light (2.3, 3.5, and 4.7 eV) from adsorbed (NO)(2) on Ag nanoparticles (NPs) (mean diameters, D = 4, 8, and 11 nm) have been investigated by the (1 + 1) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization technique. For comparison, the same experiments have also been carried out on Ag(111). Detected NO molecules are hyperthermally fast and both rotationally and vibrationally hot, with temperatures well above the sample temperature. The translational and rotational excitations are positively correlated, while the vibrational excitation is decoupled from the other two degrees of freedom. Most of the energy content of the desorbing NO is contained in its translation. The translational and internal energy distributions of NO molecules photodesorbed by 2.3, 3.5, and in part also 4.7 eV light are approximately constant as a function of Ag NPs sizes, and they are the same on Ag(111). This suggests that for these excitations a common mechanism is operative on the bulk single crystal and on NPs, independent of the size regime. Notably, despite the strongly enhanced cross section seen on NP at 3.5 eV excitation energy in p-polarization, i.e., in resonance with the plasmon excitation, the mechanism is also unchanged. At 4.7 eV and for small particles, however, an additional desorption channel is observed which results in desorbates with higher energies in all degrees of freedom. The results are well compatible with our earlier measurements of size-dependent translational energy distributions. We suggest that the broadly constant mechanism over most of the investigated range runs via a transient negative ion state, while at high excitation energy and for small particles the transient state is suggested to be a positive ion.     

Transition state dynamics of the OH + H2O hydrogen exchange reaction studied by dissociative photodetachment of H3O2-

Dynamics in the transition state region of the bimolecular OH + H2O-->H2O + OH hydrogen exchange reaction have been studied by photoelectron-photofragment coincidence spectroscopy of the H3O2- negative ion and its deuterated analog D3O2-. The data reveal vibrationally resolved product translational energy distributions. The total translational energy distribution shows a vibrational progression indicating excitation of the antisymmetric stretch of the water product. Electronic structure calculations at the QCISD level of theory support this analysis. Examination of the translational energy release between the neutral products reveals a dependence on the product vibrational state. These data should provide a critical test of ab initio potential energy surfaces and dynamics calculations.     

Direct gas-liquid interfacial dynamics: the reaction between O(3P) and a liquid hydrocarbon

We report the first measurements of internal energy distributions of the OH produced via a direct mechanism, isolated from other components on the basis of time-of-flight, in the interfacial reaction between gas-phase O((3)P) atoms and the liquid hydrocarbon squalane, C(30)H(62). O((3)P) atoms were generated by laser photolysis of NO(2) above the liquid. Resulting hydroxyl radicals that escape from the surface were detected by laser-induced fluorescence. Time-of-flight profiles demonstrate that the kinetic energy of the fastest OH (nu' = 1) is lower than that of (nu' = 0). Rotational distributions were measured at the rising edge of their appearance for both OH (nu' = 0) and (nu' = 1). They were found to differ substantially more than at the peak of their profiles. They were also less dependent on the bulk liquid temperature. We conclude that the new data confirm strongly that at least two mechanisms contribute to the production of OH. The higher-velocity component has translational and rotational energy distributions, observed cleanly for the first time, consistent with a direct mechanism. The close correspondence of these rotational distributions to those from the corresponding homogeneous gas-phase reaction of O((3)P) with smaller hydrocarbons suggests a very similar, near collinear direct abstraction. This is accompanied by a slower component with kinetic energy and rotational (but not vibrational) distributions reflecting the temperature of the liquid, consistent with a distinct trapping-desorption mechanism.     

Recoil energy distributions for dissociation of the van der Waals molecule p-difluorobenzene-Ar with 450-3000 cm(-1) excess energy

Velocity map imaging has been used to measure the distributions of translational energy released in the dissociation of p-difluorobenzene-Ar van der Waals complexes from the 5(1), 3(1), 5(2), 3(1)5(1), 5(3), 3(2), and 3(2)5(1) states. These states span 818-3317 cm(-1) of vibrational energy and correspond to a range of energies above dissociation of 451-2950 cm(-1). The translational energy release (recoil energy) distributions are remarkably similar, peaking at very low energy (10-20 cm(-1)) and decaying in an exponential fashion to approach zero near 300 cm(-1). The average translational energy released is small, shows no dependence on the initial vibrational energy, and spans the range 58-72 cm(-1) for the vibrational levels probed. The average value for the seven levels studied is 63 cm(-1). The low fraction of transfer to translation is qualitatively in accord with Ewing's momentum gap model [G. E. Ewing, Faraday Discuss. 73, 325 (1982)]. No evidence is found in the distributions for a high energy tail, although it is likely that the experiment is not sufficiently sensitive to detect a low fraction of transfer at high translational energies. The average translational energy released is lower than has been seen in comparable systems dissociating from triplet and cation states.     

On the temperature dependence of electronically non-adiabatic vibrational energy transfer in molecule-surface collisions

Here we extend a recently introduced state-to-state kinetic model describing single- and multi-quantum vibrational excitation of molecular beams of NO scattering from a Au(111) metal surface. We derive an analytical expression for the rate of electronically non-adiabatic vibrational energy transfer, which is then employed in the analysis of the temperature dependence of the kinetics of direct overtone and two-step sequential energy transfer mechanisms. We show that the Arrhenius surface temperature dependence for vibrational excitation probability reported in many previous studies emerges as a low temperature limit of a more general solution that describes the approach to thermal equilibrium in the limit of infinite interaction time and that the pre-exponential term of the Arrhenius expression can be used not only to distinguish between the direct overtone and sequential mechanisms, but also to deduce their relative contributions. We also apply the analytical expression for the vibrational energy transfer rates introduced in this work to the full kinetic model and obtain an excellent fit to experimental data, the results of which show how to extract numerical values of the molecule-surface coupling strength and its fundamental properties.     

The He-LiH potential energy surface revisited. II. Rovibrational energy transfer on a three-dimensional surface

We use our rigid rotor He-LiH potential energy surface [B. K. Taylor and R. J. Hinde, J. Phys. Chem. 111, 973 (1999)] as a starting point to develop a three-dimensional potential surface that describes the interaction between He and a rotating and vibrating LiH molecule. We use a fully quantum treatment of the collision dynamics on the current potential surface to compute rovibrational state-to-state cross sections. We compute excitation and relaxation vibrational rate constants as a function of temperature by integrating these cross sections over a Maxwell-Boltzmann translational energy distribution and summing over Boltzmann-weighted initial rotational levels. The rate constants for vibrational excitation of LiH are very small for temperatures below 300 K. Rate constants for vibrational relaxation of excited LiH molecules, however, are several orders of magnitude larger and show very little temperature dependence, suggesting that the collisions that result in vibrational relaxation are governed by long-range attractive interactions.     

State-to-state dynamics at the gas-liquid metal interface: rotationally and electronically inelastic scattering of NO[2Π(1/2)(0.5)] from molten gallium

Jet cooled NO molecules are scattered at 45° with respect to the surface normal from a liquid gallium surface at E(inc) from 1.0(3) to 20(6) kcal/mol to probe rotationally and electronically inelastic scattering from a gas-molten metal interface (numbers in parenthesis represent 1σ uncertainty in the corresponding final digits). Scattered populations are detected at 45° by confocal laser induced fluorescence (LIF) on the γ(0-0) and γ(1-1) A(2)Σ ← X(2)Π(Ω) bands, yielding rotational, spin-orbit, and λ-doublet population distributions. Scattering of low speed NO molecules results in Boltzmann distributions with effective temperatures considerably lower than that of the surface, in respectable agreement with the Bowman-Gossage rotational cooling model [J. M. Bowman and J. L. Gossage, Chem. Phys. Lett. 96, 481 (1983)] for desorption from a restricted surface rotor state. Increasing collision energy results in a stronger increase in scattered NO rotational energy than spin-orbit excitation, with an opposite trend noted for changes in surface temperature. The difference between electronic and rotational dynamics is discussed in terms of the possible influence of electron hole pair excitations in the conducting metal. While such electronically non-adiabatic processes can also influence vibrational dynamics, the γ(1-1) band indicates <2.6 × 10(-4) probability for collisional formation of NO(v = 1) at surface temperatures up to 580 K. Average translational to rotational energy transfer is compared from a hard cube model perspective with previous studies of NO scattering from single crystal solid surfaces. Despite a lighter atomic mass (70 amu), the liquid Ga surface is found to promote translational to rotational excitation more efficiently than Ag(111) (108 amu) and nearly as effectively as Au(111) (197 amu). The enhanced propensity for Ga(l) to transform incident translational energy into rotation is discussed in terms of temperature-dependent capillary wave excitation of the gas-liquid metal interface.     

Vibrationally promoted electron emission from low work-function metal surfaces

We observe electron emission when vibrationally excited NO molecules with vibrational state v, in the range of 9 < or = v < or =18, are scattered from a Cs-dosed Au surface. The quantum efficiency increases strongly with v, increasing up to 10(-2) electrons per NO (v) collision, a value several orders of magnitude larger than that observed in experiments with similar molecules in the ground vibrational state. The electron emission signal, as a function of v, has a threshold where the vibrational excitation energy slightly exceeds the surface work function. This threshold behavior strongly suggests that we are observing the direct conversion of NO vibrational energy into electron kinetic energy. Several potential mechanisms for the observed electron emission are explored, including (1) vibrational autodetachment, (2) an Auger-type two-electron process, and (3) vibrationally promoted dissociation. The results of this work provide direct evidence for nonadiabatic energy-transfer events associated with large amplitude vibrational motion at metal surfaces.     

Differential cross sections and product energy distributions for the C(3P)+OH(X 2Pi)-->CO(X 1Sigma+)+H(2S) reaction using a quasiclassical trajectory method

Quasiclassical trajectory calculations have been carried out for the C((3)P)+OH(X (2)Pi)-->CO(X (1)Sigma(+))+H((2)S) reaction using a recent ab initio potential energy surface for the ground electronic state X (2)A(') of COH. Differential cross sections (DCSs), and product vibrational, rotational and translational distributions have been determined for a wide range of collision energies (0.001-1 eV). The role of excitations (rotation or vibration) of the OH reactant on these quantities has been investigated. Product vibrational, rotational, and translational distributions are found to be almost independent on the rovibrational state of OH, whereas DCSs show a weak dependence on the initial rotational state of OH. We also analyze the results using a study based on the lifetime of the intermediate complex and on the kinematic constraint associated with the mass combination.     

D atom loss in the photodissociation of the DNCN radical: implications for prompt NO formation

The photodissociation of DNCN following excitation of the C 2A"<--X 2A" electronic transition was studied using fast beam photofragment translational spectroscopy. Analysis of the time-of-flight distributions reveals a photodissociation channel leading to D+NCN competitive with the previously observed CD+N2 product channel. The translational energy distributions describing the D+NCN channel are peaked at low energy, consistent with internal conversion to the ground state followed by statistical decay and the absence of an exit barrier. The results suggest a relatively facile pathway for the reaction CH+N2-->H+NCN that proceeds through the HNCN intermediate and support a recently proposed mechanism for prompt NO production in flames.     

On the importance of the classically forbidden region in calculations of the relaxation rate for high-frequency vibrations: a model calculation

The quantum mechanical relaxation rate for a high-frequency vibrational mode is evaluated for a one-dimensional model system having two diatomic molecules involved in a collinear collision. The thermally averaged rate is obtained as an integral over energies for the relative translation of the two molecules. These calculations show that energies several times K(B)T make the largest contributions to the rate. Several orders of magnitude of cancellation due to phase interference is found in the evaluation of the coupling matrix elements between the initial and final states, and this is one of the main factors leading to the very small value for the relaxation rate. The region near the classical turning point in the relative translational motion of the colliding molecules dominates the calculation of the contribution to the rate at each energy. Calculations using low-order expansions of the translational potential energy and the interstate coupling about this turning point provide good approximations to the exact quantum mechanical rate. This suggests a possible method for performing calculations of the rate by means of realistic simulations of liquid systems.     

The photodissociation dynamics of NO2 at 308 nm and of NO2 and N2O4 at 226 nm

Velocity-map ion imaging has been applied to the photodissociation of NO(2) via the first absorption band at 308 nm using (2 + 1) resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization detection of the atomic O((3)P(J)) products. The resulting ion images have been analyzed to provide information about the speed distribution of the O((3)P(J)) products, the translational anisotropy, and the electronic angular momentum alignment. The atomic speed distributions were used to provide information about the internal quantum-state distribution in the NO coproducts. The data were found to be consistent with an inverted NO vibrational quantum-state distribution, and thereby point to a dynamical, as opposed to a statistical dissociation mechanism subsequent to photodissociation at 308 nm. Surprisingly, at this wavelength the O-atom electronic angular momentum alignment was found to be small. Probe-only ion images obtained under a variety of molecular-beam backing-pressure conditions, and corresponding to O atoms generated in the photodissociation of either the monomer, NO(2), or the dimer, N(2)O(4), at 226 nm, are also reported. For the monomer, where 226 nm corresponds to excitation into the second absorption band, the kinetic-energy release distributions are also found to indicate a strong population inversion in the NO cofragment, and are shown to be remarkably similar to those previously observed in the wavelength range of 193-248 nm. Mechanistic implications of this result are discussed. At 226 nm it has also been possible to observe directly O atoms from the photodissociation of the dimer. The O-atom velocity distribution has been analyzed to provide information about its production mechanism.     

Photodissociation dynamics of OCS at 248 nm: the S((1)D(2)) atomic angular momentum polarization

The dissociation of OCS has been investigated subsequent to excitation at 248 nm. Speed distributions, speed dependent translational anisotropy parameters, angular momentum alignment, and orientation are reported for the channel leading to S((1)D(2)). In agreement with previous experiments, two product speed regimes have been identified, correlating with differing degrees of rotational excitation in the CO coproducts. The velocity dependence of the translational anisotropy is also shown to be in agreement with previous work. However, contrary to previous interpretations, the speed dependence is shown to primarily reflect the effects of nonaxial recoil and to be consistent with predominant excitation to the 2 (1)A(') electronic state. It is proposed that the associated electronic transition moment is polarized in the molecular plane, at an angle greater than approximately 60 degrees to the initial linear OCS axis. The atomic angular momentum polarization data are interpreted in terms of a simple long-range interaction model to help identify likely surfaces populated during dissociation. Although the model neglects coherence between surfaces, the polarization data are shown to be consistent with the proposed dissociation mechanisms for the two product speed regimes. Large values for the low and high rank in-plane orientation parameters are reported. These are believed to be the first example of a polyatomic system where these effects are found to be of the same order of magnitude as the angular momentum alignment.     

On the vibrational dependence of electron impact ionization of diatomic molecules

The dependence of the Na₂ electron impact ionization rate is measured as a function of vibrational excitation in a crossed molecule-electron beamm arrangement at collision energiesE _coll ≤ 3 eV above the ionization threshold. Specific vibrational distributions in theX ¹∑ _g ⁺ state with average vibrational energies of 0.17 eV, 0.276 eV, and 0.349 eV, are prepared via Franck-Condon pumping using a narrow-band cw laser. Enhancement of the ionization rate is observed only at impact energies near the ionization threshold where the ionization rate increases linearly as a function of vibrational excitation. Analysis of the experimental data is based on three model calculations. The first of these calculations equates vibrational energy with kinetic energy and agrees well with the experimental data. A second, more refined model allows for differences in state-to-state ionization rates and uses Franck-Condon factors to estimate transition probabilities, but leads to a less favorable agreement. The third one employs a semi-classical formulation of the Franck-Condon principle. It provides the best agreement with the experimental data. In contrast with an earlier study of electron impact ionization of diatomic molecules [20], we find no evidence of dynamical modification of the ionization rate, due to vibrational motion of the nuclei, at the present level of accuracy of our data and analysis.     

Imaging H2O photofragments in the predissociation of the HCl-H2O hydrogen-bonded dimer

The state-to-state vibrational predissociation (VP) dynamics of the hydrogen-bonded HCl-H(2)O dimer was studied following excitation of the dimer's HCl stretch by detecting the H(2)O fragment. Velocity map imaging (VMI) and resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) were used to determine pair-correlated product energy distributions. Following vibrational excitation of the HCl stretch of the dimer, H(2)O fragments were detected by 2 + 1 REMPI via the C (1)B(1) (000) ← X (1)A(1) (000) transition. REMPI spectra clearly show H(2)O from dissociation produced in the ground vibrational state. The fragments' center-of-mass (c.m.) translational energy distributions were determined from images of selected rotational states of H(2)O and were converted to rotational state distributions of the HCl cofragment. The distributions were consistent with the previously measured dissociation energy of D(0) = 1334 ± 10 cm(-1) and show a clear preference for rotational levels in the HCl fragment that minimize translational energy release. The usefulness of 2 + 1 REMPI detection of water fragments is discussed.     

Quantum dynamics calculation of reaction probability for H+Cl_2→HC1+Cl

We present in this paper a time-dependent quantum wave packet calculation of the initial state selected reaction probability for H + CI2 based on the GHNS potential energy surface with total angular momentum J= 0. The effects of the translational, vibrational and rotational excitation of CI2 on the reaction probability have been investigated. In a broad region of the translational energy, the rotational excitation enhances the reaction probability while the vibrational excitation depresses the reaction probability. The theoretical results agree well with the fact that it is an early down-hill reaction.     

State-to-state quantum dynamics of the N(4S) + OH(X2Π) → H(2S) + NO(X 2Π) reaction

Quantum state-to-state dynamics for the N((4)S) + OH(X(?2)Π) → H((2)S) + NO(X(?2)Π) reaction is reported on an accurate ab initio potential energy surface of the lowest triplet electronic state (a(3)A(")) of HNO∕HON. It was found that the reaction is dominated by long-lived resonances supported by the HNO and HON wells. Significant non-reactive scattering was observed, indicating substantial deviations from the statistical limit. Due to the large exothermicity of the reaction, the NO product has hot internal state distributions: its rotational state distribution is inverted and peaks near the highest accessible rotational level; and its vibrational state distribution extends to υ = 10 and decays monotonically with the vibrational quantum number. In particular, the predicted product vibrational distribution is in reasonably good agreement with experiment. The calculated differential cross section is dominated by scattering in both the forward and backward directions, consistent with the formation of reaction intermediates.