Frustrated Translational and Rotational Modes of Molecularly Chemisorbed Species

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

A detailed understanding of the bond between an adsorbed molecule and a solid substrate can be obtained by spectroscopic characterization of the adsorbed molecule. Very little has been learned about the low energy modes of this adsorbate-substrate complex, due to the lack of spectroscopic probes relevant to this energy regime. This research project, supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry and the Solid State Chemistry and Polymers Program in the Division of Materials Research, is directed toward obtaining this low energy information. Helium atom scattering has been developed as a method which can address this question, and Professor B.J. Hinch and her students at Rutgers University will take advantage of this method to probe the low energy frustrated rotations and translations of model molecules adsorbed on well characterized surfaces. This information will provide a stringent test of our present understanding of chemisorption and the surface chemical bond. This information is crucial to a number of technologies, ranging from catalysis to electronic device fabrication. Spectroscopic characterization of the low energy vibrations of adsorbed molecules is the focus of this research project. Scattering of helium atoms from adsorbed molecular species will be used to obtain this spectroscopic information. This heretofore unavailable data will be compared with current theories of adsorption, with the goal of increasing our understanding of this technologically important phenomenon.