Photo-fragmentation of the closo-carboranes Part 1: Energetics of Decomposition

The ionic fragmentation following B 1s and C 1s excitation of three isomeric carborane cage compounds [closo-dicarbadodecaboranes: orthocarborane (1,2-C2B10H12), metacarborane (1,7-C2B10H12), and paracarborane (1,12-C2B10H12)], is compared with the energetics of decomposition. The fragmentation yields for all three molecules are quite similar. Thermodynamic cycles are constructed for neutral and ionic species in an attempt to systemically characterize single ion closo-carborane creation and fragmentation processes. Lower energy decomposition processes are favored. Among the ionic species, the photon induced decomposition isdominated by BH+ and BH2+ fragment loss. Changes in ion yield associated with core to bound excitations are observed

An in-situ cell for characterization of solids by soft X-rayabsorption

An in-situ cell using ''lab-on-a-chip'' technologies has been designed and tested for characterization of catalysts and environmental materials using soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy and spectromicroscopy at photon energies above 250 eV. The sample compartment is 1.0 mm in diameter with a gas path length of 0.8 mm to minimize X-ray absorption in the gas phase. The sample compartment can be heated to 533 K by an Al resistive heater and gas flows up to 5.0 cm{sup 3} min{sup -1} can be supplied to the sample compartment through microchannels. The performance of the cell was tested by acquiring Cu L{sub 3}-edge XANES data during the reduction and oxidation of a silica-supported Cu catalyst using the beam line 11.0.2 Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope (STXM) at the Advanced Light Source of LBNL. Two-dimensional images of individual catalyst particles were recorded at photon energies between 926 eV and 937 eV, the energy range in which the Cu(II) and Cu(I) L{sub 3} absorption edges are observed. Oxidation state specific images of the catalyst clearly show the disappearance of Cu(II) species during the exposure of the oxidized sample to 4% CO in He while increasing the temperature from 308 K to 473 K. Reoxidation restores the intensity of the image associated with Cu(II). L-edge XANES spectra obtained from stacks of STXM images show that with increasing temperature the Cu(II) peak intensity decreases as the Cu(I) peak intensity increases

A new bend magnet beam line for scanning transmission x-ray microscopy at the Advanced Light Source

The high brightness of the bend magnets at the Advanced Light Source has been exploited to illuminate a Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope (STXM). This is the first diffraction-limited scanning x-ray microscope to operate with useful count rate on a synchrotron bend magnet source. A simple, dedicated beam line has been built covering the range of photon energy from 250 eV to 600 eV. Ease of use and operational availability are radically improved compared to previous installations using undulator beams. This facility provides radiation for C 1s, N 1s and O 1s near edge x-ray absorption spectro-microscopy with a spectral resolution up to about 1:5000 and with STXM count rates in excess of 1 MHz

Production of excited atomic hydrogen and deuterium from H2, HD and D2 photodissociation

We have measured the production of Lyman α and Balmer α fluorescence from atomic H and D for the photodissociation of H2, HD and D2 by linearly-polarized photons with energies between 22 and 64 eV. We discuss systematic uncertainties associated with ou

Environmentally friendly preparation of nanoparticles for organic photovoltaics

Aqueous nanoparticle dispersions were prepared from a conjugated polymer poly(2,5-thiophene-alt-4,9-bis(2-hexyldecyl)-4,9-dihydrodithieno[3,2-c:3',2'-h][1,5]naphthyridine-5,10-dione) (PTNT) and fullerene blend utilizing chloroform as well as a non-chlorinated andenvironmentally benign solvent, o-xylene, as the miniemulsion dispersed phase solvent. Thenanoparticles (NPs) in the solid-state film were found to coalesce and offered a smoothsurface topography upon thermal annealing. Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with photoactivelayer processed from the nanoparticle dispersions prepared using chloroform as theminiemulsion dispersed phase solvent were found to have a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.04%, which increased to 1.65% for devices utilizing NPs prepared from o-xylene.Physical, thermal and optical properties of NPs prepared using both chloroform and o-xylenewere systematically studied using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) andphotoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and correlated to their photovoltaic properties. The PLresults indicate different morphology of NPs in the solid state were achieved by varyingminiemulsion dispersed phase solvent