Important chemical processes often occur on the femtosecond timescale, requiring the use of femtosecond excitation and probing techniques to study them. Optical femtosecond laser pulses are a convenient method of initiating catalytically important reactions on metal surfaces, such as CO hydrogenation and CO oxidation, on the femtosecond timescale. Using femtosecond x-ray pulses from free electron lasers (FEL), we have selectively probed the bond making and breaking processes of these reactions using O and C k-edge x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopies to obtain time-resolved electronic structure maps. These electronic structure maps reveal the time evolution of different surface species along the reaction pathway, providing new insights into the reaction dynamics on metal catalysis. This talk will highlight past and recent results in reaction dynamics on metal surfaces as probed using femtosecond x-ray pulses.

Probing the dynamics of reaction pathways on metal surfaces using femtosecond X-ray pulses

256th National Meeting (2018)

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