Rotational population and alignment distributions for inelastic scattering and trapping/desorption of NO on Pt(111)

Stereodynamics in state-resolved scattering at the gas-liquid interface

Stereodynamics at the gas-liquid interface provides insight into the important physical interactions that directly influence heterogeneous chemistry at the surface and within the bulk liquid. We investigate molecular beam scattering of CO(2) from a liquid perfluoropolyether (PFPE) surface in vacuum [incident energy E(inc) = 10.6(8) kcal/mol, incident angle theta(inc) = 60 degrees] to specifically reveal rotational angular-momentum directions for scattered molecules. Experimentally, internal quantum state populations and M(J) distributions are probed by high-resolution polarization-modulated infrared laser spectroscopy. Analysis of J-state populations reveals dual-channel scattering dynamics characterized by a two-temperature Boltzmann distribution for trapping-desorption and impulsive scattering. In addition, molecular dynamics simulations of CO(2) + fluorinated self-assembled monolayers have been used to model CO(2) + PFPE dynamics. Experimental results and molecular dynamics simulations reveal highly oriented CO(2) distributions that preferentially scatter with "top spin" as a strongly increasing function of J state.

Effusive Molecular Beam Study of C2H6 Dissociation on Pt(111)

The dissociative sticking coefficient for C2H6 on Pt(111) has been measured as a function of both gas temperature (Tg) and surface temperature (Ts) using effusive molecular beam and angle-integrated ambient gas dosing methods. A microcanonical unimolecular rate theory (MURT) model of the reactive system is used to extract transition state properties from the data as well as to compare our data directly with supersonic molecular beam and thermal equilibrium sticking measurements. We report for the first time the threshold energy for dissociation, E0 = 26.5 +/- 3 kJ mol(-1). This value is only weakly dependent on the other two parameters of the model. A strong surface temperature dependence in the initial sticking coefficient is observed; however, the relatively weak dependence on gas temperature indicates some combination of the following (i) not all molecular excitations are contributing equally to the enhancement of sticking, (ii) that strong entropic effects in the dissociative transition state are leading to unusually high vibrational frequencies in the transition state, and (iii) energy transfer from gas-phase rovibrational modes to the surface is surprisingly efficient. In other words, it appears that vibrational mode-specific behavior and/or molecular rotations may play stronger roles in the dissociative adsorption of C2H6 than they do for CH4. The MURT with an optimized parameter set provides for a predictive understanding of the kinetics of this C-H bond activation reaction, that is, it allows us to predict the dissociative sticking coefficient of C2H6 on Pt(111) for any combination of Ts and Tg even if the two are not equal to one another.