<p>The structure, bonding and chemistry of water and hydroxyl on metal surfaces are presented. Synchrotron based x-ray photoelectron- and x-ray absorption spectroscopy along with density functional theory calculations mainly form the basis of the results. Conditions span the temperature range 35 - 520 K and pressures from ultra-high vacuum (~10 fAtm) to near ambient pressures (~1 mAtm). The results provide, e.g, new insights on the importance of hydrogen bonding for surface chemical kinetics.</p><p>Water adsorbs intact on the Pt(111), Ru(001) and Cu(110) surfaces at low temperatures forming 2-dimensional wetting layers where bonding to the metal (M) mainly occurs via H₂O-M and M-HOH bonds. Observed isotope differences in structure and kinetics for H₂O and D₂O adsorption on Ru(001) are due to qualitatively different surface chemistries. D₂O desorbs intact but H₂O dissociates in kinetic competition with desorption similar to the D₂O/Cu(110) system. The intact water layers are very sensitive to x-ray and electron induced damage.</p><p>The mixed H₂O:OH phase on Ru(001) consists of stripe-like structures 4 to 6 Ru lattice parameters wide where OH decorates the edges of the stripes. On Pt(111), two different long-range ordered mixed H₂O:OH structures are found to be inter-related by geometric distortions originating from the asymmetric H-bond donor-acceptor properties of OH towards H₂O.</p><p>Water adsorption on Cu(110) was studied at near ambient conditions and compared to Cu(111). Whereas Cu(111) remains clean, Cu(110) holds significant amounts of water in a mixed H₂O:OH layer. The difference is explained by the differing activation barriers for water dissociation, leading to the presence of OH groups on Cu(110) which lowers the desorption kinetics of water by orders of magnitude due to the formation of strong H₂O-OH bonds. By lowering the activation barrier for water dissociation on Cu(111) by pre-adsorbing atomic O, generating adsorbed OH, similar results to those on Cu(110) are obtained.</p>

The structure, bonding and chemistry of water and hydroxyl on metal surfaces are presented. Synchrotron based x-ray photoelectron- and x-ray absorption spectroscopy along with density functional theory calculations mainly form the basis of the results. Conditions span the temperature range 35 - 520 K and pressures from ultra-high vacuum (~10 fAtm) to near ambient pressures (~1 mAtm). The results provide, e.g, new insights on the importance of hydrogen bonding for surface chemical kinetics. Water adsorbs intact on the Pt(111), Ru(001) and Cu(110) surfaces at low temperatures forming 2-dimensional wetting layers where bonding to the metal (M) mainly occurs via H2O-M and M-HOH bonds. Observed isotope differences in structure and kinetics for H2O and D2O adsorption on Ru(001) are due to qualitatively different surface chemistries. D2O desorbs intact but H2O dissociates in kinetic competition with desorption similar to the D2O/Cu(110) system. The intact water layers are very sensitive to x-ray and electron induced damage. The mixed H2O:OH phase on Ru(001) consists of stripe-like structures 4 to 6 Ru lattice parameters wide where OH decorates the edges of the stripes. On Pt(111), two different long-range ordered mixed H2O:OH structures are found to be inter-related by geometric distortions originating from the asymmetric H-bond donor-acceptor properties of OH towards H2O. Water adsorption on Cu(110) was studied at near ambient conditions and compared to Cu(111). Whereas Cu(111) remains clean, Cu(110) holds significant amounts of water in a mixed H2O:OH layer. The difference is explained by the differing activation barriers for water dissociation, leading to the presence of OH groups on Cu(110) which lowers the desorption kinetics of water by orders of magnitude due to the formation of strong H2O-OH bonds. By lowering the activation barrier for water dissociation on Cu(111) by pre-adsorbing atomic O, generating adsorbed OH, similar results to those on Cu(110) are obtained.

The main focus of this thesis is ab initio modeling of core level spectra with a high-level quantum chemical description both of the chemical interactions and of local atomic multiplet effects. In particular, the combination of calculations and synchrotron-based core-level spectroscopy aims at understanding the local structure of the electronic valence in transition metal complexes, and the details of the solvation mechanisms of electrolyte solutions, systems relevant for the dye-sensitized solar cell. Configurational sampling in solution is included through molecular dynamics simulations. Transition metal complexes are studied with x-ray absorption (XA) and resonant inelastic scattering (RIXS) spectroscopy, characterizing excited states with atomic site specificity. The theoretical multiconfigurational method, applying an active-space partitioning of the molecular orbitals (RASSCF), is used to assign the transitions observed in spectra of hydrated Ni2+ explicitly, including charge transfer and multiplet effects. Furthermore, the solvent-induced binding energy properties of the I- and I3- anions in aqueous, ethanol, and acetonitrile solutions are analyzed using photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The study shows that specific ion–solvent interactions are important for the core-level binding energy shifts in solution. The special case with I3- dissolved in water, where hydrogen bonding causes breaking of the molecular symmetry, is treated and proves that the geometry changes influence the photoelectron spectrum of aqueous I3- directly.

The research presented in this thesis concerns experimental studies of thin manganese silicide and germanide layers, grown by solid phase epitaxy on the Si(111)7×7 and the Ge(111)c(2×8) surfaces, respectively. The atomic and electronic structures, as well as growth modes of the epitaxial Mn-Si and Mn-Ge layers, were investigated by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), core-level spectroscopy (CLS), and scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM and STS). The magnetic properties of the Mn-Ge films were investigated by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The Mn-Si layers, annealed at 400 °C, showed a √3×√3 LEED pattern, consistent with the formation of the stoichiometric monosilicide MnSi. Up to 4 monolayers (ML) of Mn coverage, island formation was observed. For higher Mn coverages, uniform film growth was found. Our results concerning morphology and the atomic and electronic structure of the Mn/Si(111)-√3×√3 surface, are in good agreement with a recent theoretical model for a layered MnSi structure and the √3×√3 surface structure. Similar to the Mn-Si case, the grown Mn-Ge films, annealed at 330 °C and 450 °C, showed a √3×√3 LEED pattern. This indicated the formation of the ordered Mn5Ge3 germanide. A strong tendency to island formation was observed for the Mn5Ge3 films, and a Mn coverage of about 32 ML was needed to obtain a continuous film. Our STM and CLS results are in good agreement with the established model for the bulk Mn5Ge3 germanide, with a surface termination of Mn atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Mn-Ge films grown at a lower annealing temperature, 260 °C, showed a continuous film at lower coverages, with a film structure that is different compared to the structure of the Mn5Ge3 film. XMCD studies showed that the low-temperature films are ferromagnetic for 16 ML Mn coverage and above, with a Curie temperature of ~250 K.

The main purpose of this Thesis is the experimental characterization of the electronic and geometric structures of objects called clusters. A cluster consists of a finite group of bound atoms or molecules. Due to its finite size, it may present completely different properties than those of the isolated atom and the bulk. The clusters studied in this work are constituted by rare-gas atoms, organic molecules, and metal atoms. Intense cluster beams were created using either an adiabatic expansion source or a gas-aggregation source, and investigated by means of synchrotron radiation based photoelectron spectroscopy. The reports presented in this Thesis may be divided into three parts. The first one deals with results concerning homogeneous molecular clusters (benzene- and methyl-related clusters) highlighting how molecular properties, such as dipole moment and polarizability, influence the cluster structure. The second part focuses on studies of solvation processes in clusters. In particular, the adsorption of polar molecules on rare-gas clusters is studied. It is shown that the doping method, i.e. the technique used to expose clusters to molecules, and the fraction of polar molecules are important factors in determining the location of the molecules in the clusters. Finally, a summary of investigations performed on metal clusters is presented. The applicability of solid state models to analyse the cluster spectra is considered, and the differences between the atomic, cluster and solid electronic structures are discussed.