Determination of Ionization Energies of Small Silicon Clusters with Vacuum Ultraviolet Radiation

Ionization potentials of metal clusters studied with a broad range, tunable vacuum ultraviolet light source

In this work, we present an alternative to complex laser setups or synchrotron light sources to accurately measure the ionization potentials of metal clusters. The setup is based on a commercial Xe flash lamp, combined with a vacuum monochromator, and has been applied to determine the ionization potentials of Snn clusters with n = 8-12 atoms. The uncertainty in the determination of the ionization potentials is mainly caused by the bandwidth of the monochromator. The adiabatic ionization potentials (AIPs) are extracted from experimental photoionization efficiency curves. Franck-Condon simulations are additionally used to interpret the shape and onset of the photo-ion yield. The obtained AIPs are (all energies are in eV) Sn8 (6.53 ± 0.05), Sn9 (6.69 ± 0.04), Sn10 (6.93 ± 0.03), Sn11 (6.34 ± 0.05), and Sn12 (IsoI 6.64 ± 0.04 and IsoIII 6.36 ± 0.05). Furthermore, the impact of multiple isomers present in the experiment on the photo-ion yield is addressed and compared with other experimental data in the literature.

Peptide Mass Spectra from Micrometer-Thick Ice Films Produced with Femtosecond Pulses

We present a cryogenic mass spectrometry protocol with the capability to detect peptides in the attomole dilution range from ice films. Our approach employs femtosecond laser pulses and implements neither substrate modification nor proton donor agents in the aqueous solution, known to facilitate analyte detection in mass spectrometry. In a systematic study, we investigated the impact of temperature, substrate composition, and irradiation wavelength (513 and 1026 nm) on the bradykinin signal onset. Our findings show that substrate choice and irradiation wavelength have a minor impact on signal intensity once the preparation protocol is optimized. However, if the temperature is increased from -140 to 0 °C, which is accompanied by ice film thinning, a somehow complex picture of analyte desorption and ionization is recognizable, which has not been described in the literature yet. Under cryogenic conditions (-140 °C), obtaining a signal is only possible from isolated sweet spots across the film. If the thin ice film is between -100 and -70 °C of temperature, these sweet spots appear more frequently. Ice sublimation triggered by temperatures above -70 °C leads to an intense and robust signal onset that could be maintained for several hours. In addition to the above findings, we notice that a vibrant fragmentation pattern produced is strikingly similar with both wavelengths. Our findings suggest that while following an optimized protocol, femtosecond mass spectrometry has excellent potential to analyze small organic molecules and peptides with a mass range of up to 2.5 kDa in aqueous solution without any matrix, as employed in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) or any substrate surface modification, found in surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (SALDI).

Experimental and theoretical 2p core-level spectra of size-selected gas-phase aluminum and silicon cluster cations: chemical shifts, geometric structure, and coordination-dependent screening

We present 2p core-level spectra of size-selected aluminum and silicon cluster cations from soft X-ray photoionization efficiency curves and density functional theory. The experimental and theoretical results are in very good quantitative agreement and allow for geometric structure determination. New ground state geometries for Al₁₂⁺, Si₁₅⁺, Si₁₆⁺, and Si₁₉⁺ are proposed on this basis. The chemical shifts of the 2p electron binding energies reveal a substantial difference for aluminum and silicon clusters: while in aluminum the 2p electron binding energy decreases with increasing coordination number, no such correlation was observed for silicon. The 2p binding energy shifts in clusters of both elements differ strongly from those of the corresponding bulk matter. For aluminum clusters, the core-level shifts between outer shell atoms and the encapsulated atom are of opposite sign and one order of magnitude larger than the corresponding core-level shift between surface and bulk atoms in the solid. For silicon clusters, the core-level shifts are of the same order of magnitude in clusters and in bulk silicon but no obvious correlation of chemical shift and bond length, as present for reconstructed silicon surfaces, are observed.

Thermal radiation and fragmentation pathways of photo-excited silicon clusters

The fragmentation of laser heated silicon clusters was studied by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. For Si(n)(+) (n = 5-19, 21), the lowest energy fragmentation pathways were identified as the metastable decay channel occurring after the primary acceleration of the ions. The radiative cooling of laser excited Si(n)(+) (n = 5-9, 11, and 13) was quantified via its quenching effect on the amount of metastable fragmentation. The quenching varied strongly with cluster size, from no observable amount for Si7(+) to a cooling constant of 3 ⋅ 10(5) s(-1) for Si13(+). In addition, based on the observed fragmentation channels, the ionization energies and the relative binding energies of the clusters were partially ordered, and several ionization energies have been bracketed more precisely.

DFT assessment of the spectroscopic constants and absorption spectra of neutral and charged diatomic species of group 11 and 14 elements

The spectroscopic constants and absorption spectra of neutral and charged diatomic molecules of group 11 and 14 elements formulated as [M(2)](+/0/-) (M = Cu, Ag, Au), and [E(2)](+/0/-) (E = C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb) have been calculated at the PBE0/Def2-QZVPP level of theory. The electronic and bonding properties of the diatomics have been analyzed by natural bond orbital analysis approach and topology analysis by the atoms in molecules method. Particular emphasis was given on the absorption spectra of the diatomic species, which were simulated by time-dependent density functional theory calculations employing the hybrid Coulomb-attenuating CAM-B3LYP density functional. The simulated absorption spectra of the [M(2)](+/0/-) (M = Cu, Ag, Au) and [E(2)](+/0/-) (E = C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb) species are in close resemblance with the experimentally observed spectra whenever available. The neutral M(2) and E(2) diatomics strongly absorb in the ultraviolet region, given rise to UVC, UVA and in a few cases UVB absorptions. In a few cases, weak absorbion bands also occur in the visible region. The absorption bands have thoroughly been analyzed and assignments of the contributing principal electronic transitions associated to individual excitations have been made.

Ionization enhancement in silicon clusters and germanium atoms in the presence of zirconium

Molecules/clusters have been shown to undergo an enhancement in ionization under ultrafast laser pulses. This enhancement results in the lowering of the laser intensity required to observe ion signal from higher atomic charge states resulting from Coulomb explosion of clusters. Here, we explore the effect of using an early-group transition metal as an electron source in the formation of small silicon clusters on the observed enhancement in ionization. Intensity selective scanning is used to measure the onset of ion signal for the atomic charge states of silicon, germanium, zirconium, and oxygen. Additionally, the kinetic energy released values for the resulting high charge states of silicon are measured and compared to those previously observed using a copper electron source. A significant increase in ionization enhancement is observed upon using zirconium metal, despite a decrease in cluster size. Germanium metal with zirconium is studied for comparison and shows a larger enhancement in ion signal than silicon, indicating that atomic mass may be significant.

Chemical dynamics, molecular energetics, and kinetics at the synchrotron

Scientists at the Chemical Dynamics Beamline of the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley are continuously reinventing synchrotron investigations of physical chemistry and chemical physics with vacuum ultraviolet light. One of the unique aspects of a synchrotron for chemical physics research is the widely tunable vacuum ultraviolet light that permits threshold ionization of large molecules with minimal fragmentation. This provides novel opportunities to assess molecular energetics and reaction mechanisms, even beyond simple gas phase molecules. In this perspective, significant new directions utilizing the capabilities at the Chemical Dynamics Beamline are presented, along with an outlook for future synchrotron and free electron laser science in chemical dynamics. Among the established and emerging fields of investigations are cluster and biological molecule spectroscopy and structure, combustion flame chemistry mechanisms, radical kinetics and product isomer dynamics, aerosol heterogeneous chemistry, planetary and interstellar chemistry, and secondary neutral ion-beam desorption imaging of biological matter and materials chemistry.