TY - JOUR A1 - Sorgenfrei, Nomi A1 - Giangrisostomi, Erika A1 - Jay, Raphael Martin A1 - Kühn, Danilo A1 - Neppl, Stefan A1 - Ovsyannikov, Ruslan A1 - Sezen, Hikmet A1 - Svensson, Svante A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander T1 - Photodriven transient picosecond top-layer semiconductor to metal phase-transition in p-doped molybdenum disulfide JF - Advanced materials N2 - Visible light is shown to create a transient metallic S-Mo-S surface layer on bulk semiconducting p-doped indirect-bandgap 2H-MoS2. Optically created electron-hole pairs separate in the surface band bending region of the p-doped semiconducting crystal causing a transient accumulation of electrons in the surface region. This triggers a reversible 2H-semiconductor to 1T-metal phase-transition of the surface layer. Electron-phonon coupling of the indirect-bandgap p-doped 2H-MoS2 enables this efficient pathway even at a low density of excited electrons with a distinct optical excitation threshold and saturation behavior. This mechanism needs to be taken into consideration when describing the surface properties of illuminated p-doped 2H-MoS2. In particular, light-induced increased charge mobility and surface activation can cause and enhance the photocatalytic and photoassisted electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction of water on 2H-MoS2. Generally, it opens up for a way to control not only the surface of p-doped 2H-MoS2 but also related dichalcogenides and layered systems. The findings are based on the sensitivity of time-resolved electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis with photon-energy-tuneable synchrotron radiation. KW - catalysis KW - dichalcogenides KW - hydrogen evolution reaction KW - phase transitions KW - photoelectron spectroscopy Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202006957 SN - 0935-9648 SN - 1521-4095 VL - 33 IS - 14 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mayer, Dennis A1 - Lever, Fabiano A1 - Gühr, Markus T1 - Data analysis procedures for time-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at a SASE free-electron-laser JF - Journal of physics : B, Atomic, molecular and optical physics N2 - The random nature of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) is a well-known challenge for x-ray core level spectroscopy at SASE free-electron lasers (FELs). Especially in time-resolved experiments that require a combination of good temporal and spectral resolution the jitter and drifts in the spectral characteristics, relative arrival time as well as power fluctuations can smear out spectral-temporal features. We present a combination of methods for the analysis of time-resolved photoelectron spectra based on power and time corrections as well as self-referencing of a strong photoelectron line. Based on sulfur 2p photoelectron spectra of 2-thiouracil taken at the SASE FEL FLASH2, we show that it is possible to correct for some of the photon energy drift and jitter even when reliable shot-to-shot photon energy data is not available. The quality of pump-probe difference spectra improves as random jumps in energy between delay points reduce significantly. The data analysis allows to identify coherent oscillations of 1 eV shift on the mean photoelectron line of 4 eV width with an error of less than 0.1 eV. KW - free-electron laser KW - photoelectron spectroscopy KW - FLASH Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6455/ac3c91 SN - 0953-4075 SN - 1361-6455 VL - 55 IS - 5 PB - IOP Publ. CY - Bristol ER - TY - THES A1 - Born, Artur T1 - Electronic structure, quasi-particle interaction and relaxation in 3d-elements from X-ray spectroscopy N2 - Any physical system can be described on the level of interacting particles, thus it is of fundamental importance to improve the scientific understanding of interacting many-body systems. This thesis experimentally addresses specific quasi-particle interactions, namely interactions be- tween electrons and between electrons and phonons. It describes the consequential effects of those processes on the electronic structure and the core-hole relaxation pathways in 3d metals. Despite the great amount of experimental and theoretical studies of these interactions and their impact on the behavior of solid-state matter, there are still open questions concerning the cor- responding physical, chemical and mechanical properties of solid-state matter. Especially, the study of 3d metals and their compounds is a great experimental challenge, since those exhibit a variety of spectral features originating from many-body effects such as multiplet splitting, shake up/off satellites, vibrationally excited states or more complex effects like superconductivity and ultrafast demagnetization. In X-ray spectroscopy, these effects often produce overlapping fea- tures, complicating the analysis and limiting the understanding. In this thesis, to overcome the limitations set by conventional X-ray spectroscopy, two different experimental approaches were successfully refined, namely Auger electron photoelectron coincidence spectroscopy (APECS) and temperature-dependent X-ray emission spectroscopy (tXES), which enabled the separation of different core-hole relaxation pathways and the isolation of the impact of specific many-body interactions in the experimental spectra. APECS was utilized at the new Coincidence electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (Co- ESCA) station at BESSY II to study the core-hole decay and electron-correlation effects in single- crystal Ni, Cu and Co. The observation of photoelectrons in coincidence with Auger electrons allows for the separation of the initial and final state effects in the Auger electron spectra. The results show that a Cu LV V Auger spectrum can be represented by broadened atomic multiplets confirming the localized nature of the intermediate core-hole states. In contrast, the Co LV V Auger spectrum is band-like and can be represented by the self-convolution of the valence band. Ni behaves mixed, localized and itinerant. Thus, the Ni Auger spectrum can only be represented by a mixture of atomic multiplet peaks and the self-convoluted valence band. In the case of Ni, the LV V Auger electrons in coincidence with the 6 eV satellite photoelectrons were also stud- ied. Utilizing the core-hole clock method, the lifetime of the localized double-hole intermediate 2 p53d9 states of 1.8 fs could be determined. However, a fraction of these states delocalizes before the Auger decay contributing to the main peak. A similar delocalization was observed for the double-hole states produced by the L2L3M4,5 Coster-Kronig process. Additionally, the influence of surface oxidation on the Ni(111) 3p levels was studied with APECS. The Ni 3p PES spectrum is broad and featureless, due to overlapping many-body effects and gives little chance for exact analysis using conventional photoelectron spectroscopy. Utilizing APECS or precisely the final state selectivity of the method, the spectral width of the 3p levels could be narrowed and their positions and the spin-orbit splitting were determined. Moreover, due to the surface sensitivity of the method, the chemically shifted 3p photoelectron peaks originating from the oxidized surface and the bulk Ni were disentangled. For the study of the atomic electron-phonon spin-flip scattering in 3d metals as a spin-relaxation channel, the tXES method at the SolidFlexRIXS station was developed. The atomic spin-flip scat- tering was studied in single-crystal Ni, Cu, Co and in FeNi alloys, which show considerable dif- ferences in their behavior. The scattering rate in Ni increases with temperature, whereas the rate in Cu and Co remains constant within the measured temperature range up to 1000 K. In FeNi alloys, our results reveal that the spin-flip scattering is restricted by sublattice exchange energies J. The electron-phonon scattering driven spin-flips only appear in the case where the thermal energy ex- ceeds the exchange energy kT > J. This thresholding is an important microscopic process for the description of the sublattice dynamics in alloys, but as shown also relevant for elemental magnetic systems. Overall, the results strongly indicate that the spin-flip probability is correlated with the exchange energy, which might become an important parameter in the ultrafast demagnetization debate. Taken together, the applied experimental approaches allowed to study complex many-body effects in 3d metals. The results show that utilizing APECS enabled the distinction and clear assignment of otherwise overlapping features in AES or PES spectra of Ni, Cu, Co and NiO. This is of fundamental importance for the basic understanding of photoionization and core-hole decay processes but also for the chemical analysis in applied science. The measurement of the atomic electron-phonon spin-flip scattering rate utilizing tXES shows that the electron-phonon spin-flip scattering is a relevant atomic process for the macroscopic demagnetization process. Additionally, a temperature-dependent thresholding mechanism was discovered, which introduces an important dynamic factor into the electron-phonon spin-flip model. KW - X-ray spectroscopy KW - photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Auger electron spectroscop KW - X-ray absorption spectroscopy KW - X-ray emission spectroscopy KW - 3d metals KW - electronic structure KW - quasi-particle interaction Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cappel, Ute B. A1 - Svanstrom, Sebastian A1 - Lanzilotto, Valeria A1 - Johansson, Fredrik O. L. A1 - Aitola, Kerttu A1 - Philippe, Bertrand A1 - Giangrisostomi, Erika A1 - Ovsyannikov, Ruslan A1 - Leitner, Torsten A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander A1 - Svensson, Svante A1 - Martensson, Nils A1 - Boschloo, Gerrit A1 - Lindblad, Andreas A1 - Rensmo, Hakan T1 - Partially Reversible Photoinduced Chemical Changes in a Mixed-Ion Perovskite Material for Solar Cells JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces N2 - Metal halide perovskites have emerged as materials of high interest for solar energy-to-electricity conversion, and in particular, the use of mixed-ion structures has led to high power conversion efficiencies and improved stability. For this reason, it is important to develop means to obtain atomic level understanding of the photoinduced behavior of these materials including processes such as photoinduced phase separation and ion migration. In this paper, we implement a new methodology combining visible laser illumination of a mixed-ion perovskite ((FAP-bI(3))(0.85)(MAPbBr(3))(0.15)) with the element specificity and chemical sensitivity of core-level photoelectron spectroscopy. By carrying out measurements at a synchrotron beamline optimized for low X-ray fluxes, we are able to avoid sample changes due to X-ray illumination and are therefore able to monitor what sample changes are induced by visible illumination only. We find that laser illumination causes partially reversible chemistry in the surface region, including enrichment of bromide at the surface, which could be related to a phase separation into bromide- and iodide-rich phases. We also observe a partially reversible formation of metallic lead in the perovskite structure. These processes occur on the time scale of minutes during illumination. The presented methodology has a large potential for understanding light-induced chemistry in photoactive materials and could specifically be extended to systematically study the impact of morphology and composition on the photostability of metal halide perovskites. KW - photoelectron spectroscopy KW - laser illumination KW - lead halide perovskite KW - ion migration KW - phase separation KW - stability Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b10643 SN - 1944-8244 VL - 9 SP - 34970 EP - 34978 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER -