Polymer Thin Films as Universal Substrates for Extreme Ultraviolet Absorption Spectroscopy of Molecular Transition Metal Complexes

2021/08/16 by Shari'ati, Yusef, Vura-Weis, Josh
#Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2108.07191

Abstract

Polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride thin films are explored as sample supports for extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectroscopy of molecular transition metal complexes. Thin polymer films prepared by slip-coating are flat, smooth, and transmit much more XUV light than silicon nitride windows. Analytes can be directly cast onto the polymer surface, or codeposited within it. The M-edge x-ray absorption near-edge (XANES) spectra (40-90 eV) of eight archetypal transition metal complexes (M=Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) are presented to demonstrate the versatility of this method. The films are suitable for pump/probe transient absorption spectroscopy, as shown by the excited-state spectra of Fe(bpy)₃²⁺ in two different polymer supports.

Related

• Transient sub-nanosecond soft X-ray NEXAFS spectroscopy on organic thin films
• Operando Ultrafast Damage-free Diffraction-Enhanced X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy for Chemical Reactivity of Polymer in Solvents
• Recent Advances of Transition Metal Complexes for Photopolymerization and 3D Printing under Visible Light
• Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopy below 100 eV: probing first-row transition-metalM-edges in chemical complexes
• New candidate polymeric wavelength shifters for noble liquid detectors