Electron dynamics adsorbate states

It is also interesting to consider charge-transfer models developed primarily for metal surfaces. There are clear parallels to the metal oxide case in that there is an interaction between discrete molecular orbitals on one side, and electronic bands on the other side of the interface. The Newns-Anderson model [118] qualitatively accounts for the interactions between adsorbed atoms and metal surfaces. The model is based on resonance of adatom levels with a substrate band. In particular, the model considers an energy shift in the adatom level, as well as a broadening of that level. The width of the level is taken as a measure of the interaction strength with the substrate bands [118]. Also femtosecond electron dynamics have been studied at electrode interfaces, see e.g. [119]. It needs to be established, however, to what extent metal surface models are valid also for organic adsorbates on metal oxides in view of the differences between the metal an the metal oxide band structures. The significance of the band gap, as well as of surface states in it, must in any case be considered [102]. 

So far, we have discussed the electron dynamics mainly for image-potential states. Owing to their relatively long lifetimes, they serve as a model system to study electron scattering processes at surfaces by time-resolved 2-PPE. Studies on other systems are relatively scarce because the overlap of adsorbate or surface states with bulk bands is usually relatively large and the lifetime is below the attainable time resolution. Figure 6.15 shows time-resolved data for the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of C Fg on Cu(lll) [89[. The population dynamics is... 

Many of the fiindamental physical and chemical processes at surfaces and interfaces occur on extremely fast time scales. For example, atomic and molecular motions take place on time scales as short as 100 fs, while surface electronic states may have lifetimes as short as 10 fs. With the dramatic recent advances in laser tecluiology, however, such time scales have become increasingly accessible. Surface nonlinear optics provides an attractive approach to capture such events directly in the time domain. Some examples of application of the method include probing the dynamics of melting on the time scale of phonon vibrations [82], photoisomerization of molecules [88], molecular dynamics of adsorbates [89, 90], interfacial solvent dynamics [91], transient band-flattening in semiconductors [92] and laser-induced desorption [93]. A review article discussing such time-resolved studies in metals can be found in... 

The adsorbed sensitizers in the excited state inject an electron into the conduction band of the semiconductor substrate, provided that the excited state oxidation potential is above that of the conduction band. The excitation of the sensitizer involves transfer of an electron from the metal t2g orbital to the 7r orbital of the ligand, and the photo-excited sensitizer can inject an electron from a singlet or a triplet electronically excited state, or from a vibrationally hot excited state. The electrochemical and photophysical properties of both the ground and the excited states of the dye play an important role in the CT dynamics at the semiconductor interface. 

In an effort to understand the mechanisms involved in formation of complex orientational structures of adsorbed molecules and to describe orientational, vibrational, and electronic excitations in systems of this kind, a new approach to solid surface theory has been developed which treats the properties of two-dimensional dipole systems.61,109,121 In adsorbed layers, dipole forces are the main contributors to lateral interactions both of dynamic dipole moments of vibrational or electronic molecular excitations and of static dipole moments (for polar molecules). In the previous chapter, we demonstrated that all the information on lateral interactions within a system is carried by the Fourier components of the dipole-dipole interaction tensors. In this chapter, we consider basic spectral parameters for two-dimensional lattice systems in which the unit cells contain several inequivalent molecules. As seen from Sec. 2.1, such structures are intrinsic in many systems of adsorbed molecules. For the Fourier components in question, the lattice-sublattice relations will be derived which enable, in particular, various parameters of orientational structures on a complex lattice to be expressed in terms of known characteristics of its Bravais sublattices. In the framework of such a treatment, the ground state of the system concerned as well as the infrared-active spectral frequencies of valence dipole vibrations will be elucidated. 

A key aspect of metal oxides is that they possess multiple functional properties acid-base, electron transfer and transport, chemisorption by a and 7i-bonding of hydrocarbons, O-insertion and H-abstraction, etc. This multi-functionality allows them to catalyze complex selective multistep transformations of hydrocarbons, as well as other catalytic reactions (NO,c conversion, for example). The control of the catalyst multi-functionality requires the ability to control not only the nanostructure, e.g. the nano-scale environment around the active site, " but also the nano-architecture, e.g. the 3D spatial organization of nano-entities. The active site is not the only relevant aspect for catalysis. The local area around the active site orients or assists the coordination of the reactants, and may induce sterical constrains on the transition state, and influences short-range transport (nano-scale level). Therefore, it plays a critical role in determining the reactivity and selectivity in multiple pathways of transformation. In addition, there are indications pointing out that the dynamics of adsorbed species, e.g. their mobility during the catalytic processes which is also an important factor determining the catalytic performances in complex surface reaction, " is influenced by the nanoarchitecture. 

The catalytic role of the oxide surface can be seen in terms of forming or providing oxygen in an activated state, which then permits a new reaction pathway characterized by a lower energy barrier, with the other reactants either in the gas phase or as an adsorbed species on the surface. Such reactions may modify both the electronic levels and the surface structure of the oxide, but it should be kept in mind that for a catalyst such modification will reach a dynamic equilibrium in which restoration of electrons and replenishment of vacancies by oxygen must balance their removal by reaction products. In this sense, many of the model systems studied are unrealistic since the changes to the surface are irreversible. 

The electron- and hole-trapping dynamics in the case of WS2 are elucidated by electron-quenching studies, specifically by the comparison of polarized emission kinetics in the presence and absence of an adsorbed electron acceptor, 2,2 -bipyridine [68]. In the absence of an electron acceptor, WS exhibits emission decay kinetics similar to those observed in the M0S2 case. The polarized emission decays with 28-ps, 330-ps, and about 3-ns components. For carrier-quenching studies to resolve the dynamics of electron trapping, it is necessary that the electron acceptor quenches only conduction-band (not trapped) electrons. It is therefore first necessary to determine that electron transfer occurs only from the conduction band. The decay of the unpolarized emission (when both the electron and the hole are trapped) is unaffected by the presence of the 2,2 -bipyridine, indicating that electron transfer docs not take place from trap states in the WS2 case. Comparison of the polarized emission kinetics in the presence and absence of the electron acceptor indicates that electron transfer does occur from the conduction band. Specifically, this comparison reveals that the presence of 2,2 -bipyridine significantly shortens the slower decay component of the polarized... 

We present in Section 2 the formalism giving the equations for the reduced density operator and for competing instantaneous and delayed dissipation. Section 3 presents matrix equations in a form suitable for numerical work, and the details of the numerical procedure used to solve the integrodiffer-ential equations with the two types of dissipative processes. In Section 4 on applications to adsorbates, results are shown for quantum state populations versus time for the dissipative dynamics of CO/Cu(001). The fast electronic relaxation to the ground electronic state is shown first without the slow relaxation of the frustrated translation mode of CO vibrations, for comparison with previous work, and this is followed by results with both fast and slow relaxation. In Section 5 we comment on the general conclusions that can be reached in problems involving both vibrational and electronic relaxation at surfaces. 

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