Electronic structure of transition metal oxide compounds in aqueous solution from photoelectron spectroscopy (A06)

• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 234149247

The electronic structure of Fe and Al oxides in aqueous solutions is studied by soft-X-ray photoemission from a liquid microjet. Our two main goals are (1) to determine the early-stage nucleation processes that lead to the formation of Al oxyhydroxide particles in Al3+ / NaOH aqueous solutions, and (2) to identify the molecular species that exist at the surface of Fe3O4 and Al2O3 nanoparticles, respectively, in aqueous solutions. In addition to ground-state photoelectron spectroscopy from valence and core levels we apply resonant photoelectron spectroscopy at the oxygen 1s and the Al 1s / Fe 2p resonances to increase the detection sensitivity of the molecular precursors and of molecules adsorbed at the nanoparticle surface.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1109: Understanding of Oxide/Water Systems at the Molecular Scale: Structural Evolution, Interfaces and Dissolution
• Applicant Institution: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Co-Applicant Institution: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
• Project Head: Dr. Bernd Jürgen Winter