TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tetenoire, Auguste
A1  - Ehlert, Christopher
A1  - Juaristi, Joseba Iñaki
A1  - Saalfrank, Peter
A1  - Alducin, Maite
T1  - Why ultrafast photoinduced CO desorption dominates over oxidation on Ru(0001)
JF  - The journal of physical chemistry letters
N2  - CO oxidation on Ru(0001) is a long-standing example of a reaction that, being thermally forbidden in ultrahigh vacuum, can be activated by femtosecond laser pulses. In spite of its relevance, the precise dynamics of the photoinduced oxidation process as well as the reasons behind the dominant role of the competing CO photodesorption remain unclear. Here we use ab initio molecular dynamics with electronic friction that account for the highly excited and nonequilibrated system created by the laser to investigate both reactions. Our simulations successfully reproduce the main experimental findings: the existence of photoinduced oxidation and desorption, the large desorption to oxidation branching ratio, and the changes in the O K-edge X-ray absorption spectra attributed to the initial stage of the oxidation process. Now, we are able to monitor in detail the ultrafast CO desorption and CO oxidation occurring in the highly excited system and to disentangle what causes the unexpected inertness to the otherwise energetically favored oxidation.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c02327
SN  - 1948-7185
VL  - 13
IS  - 36
SP  - 8516
EP  - 8521
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington, DC
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mayer, Dennis
A1  - Lever, Fabiano
A1  - Picconi, David
A1  - Metje, Jan
A1  - Ališauskas, Skirmantas
A1  - Calegari, Francesca
A1  - Düsterer, Stefan
A1  - Ehlert, Christopher
A1  - Feifel, Raimund
A1  - Niebuhr, Mario
A1  - Manschwetus, Bastian
A1  - Kuhlmann, Marion
A1  - Mazza, Tommaso
A1  - Robinson, Matthew Scott
A1  - Squibb, Richard James
A1  - Trabattoni, Andrea
A1  - Wallner, Måns
A1  - Saalfrank, Peter
A1  - Wolf, Thomas J. A.
A1  - Gühr, Markus
T1  - Following excited-state chemical shifts in molecular ultrafast x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - The conversion of photon energy into other energetic forms in molecules is accompanied by charge moving on ultrafast timescales. We directly observe the charge motion at a specific site in an electronically excited molecule using time-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (TR-XPS). We extend the concept of static chemical shift from conventional XPS by the excited-state chemical shift (ESCS), which is connected to the charge in the framework of a potential model. This allows us to invert TR-XPS spectra to the dynamic charge at a specific atom. We demonstrate the power of TR-XPS by using sulphur 2p-core-electron-emission probing to study the UV-excited dynamics of 2-thiouracil. The method allows us to discover that a major part of the population relaxes to the molecular ground state within 220–250 fs. In addition, a 250-fs oscillation, visible in the kinetic energy of the TR-XPS, reveals a coherent exchange of population among electronic states.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27908-y
SN  - 2041-1723
VL  - 13
PB  - Springer Nature
CY  - Berlin
ER  -