| Abstract: | Electronic excitation of materials is of fundamental and technological importance and interest in terms of photoinduced phase transition, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis. In the present study, photoexcitation of Fe2 O 3 epitaxially grown on rutile TiO2(100) was investigated with conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) under dominantly visible-light irradiation. 57Fe was deposited on the substrate at a substrate temperature of 973 K, and the resulting film was characterized by RHEED and XPS. After deposition of Fe on TiO2(100), it was found that Fe was oxidized to Fe 3+, and the structure was analyzed to be the rhombohedral phase of Fe2 O 3. While the CEMS spectrum without light irradiation showed a quadrupole splitting of 0.80 mm/s with an isomer shift of +0.25 mm/s, an additional component with a quadrupole splitting of 0.85 and an isomer shift of +0.67 mm/s was observed under light irradiation. The latter component corresponds to a reduced state of Fe at the octahedral site surrounded by oxygen atoms. The lifetime of this photoexcited state is discussed. |
