Spectroscopy, Dynamics, and Reactivity of Excess Electrons in Clusters

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. Daniel M. Neumark of the University of California - Berkeley and his graduate student colleagues will carry out spectroscopic and dynamical studies of excess electrons in negatively charged clusters. These studies will be done using time-resolved photoelectron imaging (TRPEI), a femtosecond pump-probe technique. Experiments will be conducted with electron-doped, pure solvent clusters (water, methanol and acetonitrile), probing the electron relaxation dynamics, and in halide anion-doped solvent clusters, in which the dynamics of charge-transfer-to-solvent (CTTS) excitation is used to launch an electron into the solvent network, where its subsequent dynamics will be studied. Other studies will combine electron donor and electron acceptor in the same cluster, where CTTS followed by electron transfer to acceptor can be studied. The studies outlined will have a number of broader scientific impacts, since solvated electrons are ubiquitous in a number of scientific areas from atmospheric chemistry to biology and medicine. The graduate students trained in this program will acquire significant skills in experimental and theoretical chemical physics research.