Adsorption and charge transfer interactions of bi-isonicotinic acid on Ag(111)

Temperton, Robert H.; Gibson, Andrew J.; Handrup, Karsten; O'Shea, James N.

Abstract

The adsorption and charge transfer dynamics of the organic molecule bi-isonicotinic acid (4,4?-dicarboxy-2,2?-bipyridine) on single crystal Ag(111) has been studied using synchrotron radiation-based photoemission, x-ray absorption and resonant core spectroscopies. Measurements for multilayer and monolayer coverage are used to determine the nature of the molecule-surface interactions and the molecular orientation. An experimental density of states for the monolayer with respect to the underlying metal surface is obtained by combining x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the N 1s edge and valence photoemission to measure the unoccupied and occupied valence states, respectively. This shows that the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital in the core-excited state lies energetically below the Fermi level of the surface allowing charge transfer from the metal into this orbital. Resonant photoelectron spectroscopy was used to probe this charge transfer in the context of super-spectator and super-Auger electron transitions. The results presented provide a novel interpretation of resonant core-level spectroscopy to explore ultra-fast charge transfer between an adsorbed organic molecule and a metal surface through the observation of electrons from the metal surface playing a direct role in the core-hole decay of the core-excited molecule.

Citation

Temperton, R. H., Gibson, A. J., Handrup, K., & O'Shea, J. N. (in press). Adsorption and charge transfer interactions of bi-isonicotinic acid on Ag(111). Journal of Chemical Physics, 147, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4996746

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 17, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 2, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 21, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 2, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Chemical Physics
• Print ISSN: 0021-9606
• Electronic ISSN: 1089-7690
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 147
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4996746
• Keywords: charge transfer, organic molecules, metal surfaces
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/875390
• Publisher URL: http://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.4996746
• Additional Information: This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. The following article appeared in The Journal of Chemical Physics 147, 054703 (2017); and may be found at http://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.4996746