Roberto Colina-Ruiz, PNNL
Abstract
Study of Ru Complexes using Ru 3p4d Resonant Inelastic X‑ray Scattering
Roberto Colina-Ruiz1, Sang-Jun Lee2, Elisa Biasin1
1Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
2Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
It is well-known that ruthenium complexes show exceptional catalytic and light-harvesting properties. Understanding the local electronic structure and electronic dynamics as a function of different metal-ligand interactions is relevant to be able to control their catalytic and photochemical properties. In this work, we preliminary investigate three Ru model complexes, [Ru3+(NH3)6]3+ (RuAm), [Ru2+(bpy)3]2+ (RuBpy) and [Ru2+(CN)6]4− (RuCN) combining X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) at the Ru M2,3-edge and Ru 3p4d Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) to probe simultaneously, unoccupied orbitals and occupied orbitals respectively. By comparing the 2D RIXS maps over the complete Ru M2,3-edge, as well as the projections into incident energy and energy transfer axis, we aim at understanding the sensitivity of these measurements to different chemical environments around the Ru2+ and Ru3+ complexes. In particular, RuCN metal-ligand π backbonding interactions, RuBpy weak π accepting ligands nature and RuAm σ donating ligands effects will be discussed. Finally, this study proposes M-edge RIXS spectroscopy as an option to study 4d materials with soft X-rays sources sources instead of the widely use L-edge RIXS that require tender X-ray beamlines.