The structural validity of various thermodynamical models of supercooled water.

The thermodynamic response functions of water exhibit an anomalous increase upon cooling that becomes strongly amplified in the deeply supercooled regime due to structural fluctuations between disordered and tetrahedral local structures. Here, we compare structural data from recent x-ray laser scattering measurements of water at 1 bar and temperatures down to 227 K with structural properties computed for several different water models using molecular dynamics simulations. Based on this comparison, we critically evaluate four different thermodynamic scenarios that have been invoked to explain the unusual behavior of water. The critical point-free model predicts small variations in the tetrahedrality with decreasing temperature, followed by a stepwise change at the liquid-liquid transition around 228 K at ambient pressure. This scenario is not consistent with the experimental data that instead show a smooth and accelerated variation in structure from 320 to 227 K. Both the singularity-free model and ice coarsening hypothesis give trends that indirectly indicate an increase in tetrahedral structure with temperature that is too weak to be consistent with experiment. A model that includes an apparent divergent point (ADP) at high positive pressure, however, predicts structural development consistent with our experimental measurements. The terminology ADP, instead of the commonly used liquid-liquid critical point, is more general in that it focuses on the growing fluctuations, whether or not they result in true criticality. Extrapolating this model beyond the experimental data, we estimate that an ADP in real water may lie around 1500 ± 250 bars and 190 ± 6 K.

Strong Influence of Coadsorbate Interaction on CO Desorption Dynamics on Ru(0001) Probed by Ultrafast X-Ray Spectroscopy and Ab Initio Simulations.

We show that coadsorbed oxygen atoms have a dramatic influence on the CO desorption dynamics from Ru(0001). In contrast to the precursor-mediated desorption mechanism on Ru(0001), the presence of surface oxygen modifies the electronic structure of Ru atoms such that CO desorption occurs predominantly via the direct pathway. This phenomenon is directly observed in an ultrafast pump-probe experiment using a soft x-ray free-electron laser to monitor the dynamic evolution of the valence electronic structure of the surface species. This is supported with the potential of mean force along the CO desorption path obtained from density-functional theory calculations. Charge density distribution and frozen-orbital analysis suggest that the oxygen-induced reduction of the Pauli repulsion, and consequent increase of the dative interaction between the CO 5σ and the charged Ru atom, is the electronic origin of the distinct desorption dynamics. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of CO desorption from Ru(0001) and oxygen-coadsorbed Ru(0001) provide further insights into the surface bond-breaking process.

Surface chemistry. Probing the transition state region in catalytic CO oxidation on Ru.

Femtosecond x-ray laser pulses are used to probe the carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation reaction on ruthenium (Ru) initiated by an optical laser pulse. On a time scale of a few hundred femtoseconds, the optical laser pulse excites motions of CO and oxygen (O) on the surface, allowing the reactants to collide, and, with a transient close to a picosecond (ps), new electronic states appear in the O K-edge x-ray absorption spectrum. Density functional theory calculations indicate that these result from changes in the adsorption site and bond formation between CO and O with a distribution of OC-O bond lengths close to the transition state (TS). After 1 ps, 10% of the CO populate the TS region, which is consistent with predictions based on a quantum oscillator model.

Vacuum space charge effects in sub-picosecond soft X-ray photoemission on a molecular adsorbate layer.

Vacuum space charge induced kinetic energy shifts of O 1s and Ru 3d core levels in femtosecond soft X-ray photoemission spectra (PES) have been studied at a free electron laser (FEL) for an oxygen layer on Ru(0001). We fully reproduced the measurements by simulating the in-vacuum expansion of the photoelectrons and demonstrate the space charge contribution of the high-order harmonics in the FEL beam. Employing the same analysis for 400 nm pump-X-ray probe PES, we can disentangle the delay dependent Ru 3d energy shifts into effects induced by space charge and by lattice heating from the femtosecond pump pulse.

Ultrafast X-ray probing of water structure below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature.

Water has a number of anomalous physical properties, and some of these become drastically enhanced on supercooling below the freezing point. Particular interest has focused on thermodynamic response functions that can be described using a normal component and an anomalous component that seems to diverge at about 228 kelvin (refs 1-3). This has prompted debate about conflicting theories that aim to explain many of the anomalous thermodynamic properties of water. One popular theory attributes the divergence to a phase transition between two forms of liquid water occurring in the 'no man's land' that lies below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature (TH) at approximately 232 kelvin and above about 160 kelvin, and where rapid ice crystallization has prevented any measurements of the bulk liquid phase. In fact, the reliable determination of the structure of liquid water typically requires temperatures above about 250 kelvin. Water crystallization has been inhibited by using nanoconfinement, nanodroplets and association with biomolecules to give liquid samples at temperatures below TH, but such measurements rely on nanoscopic volumes of water where the interaction with the confining surfaces makes the relevance to bulk water unclear. Here we demonstrate that femtosecond X-ray laser pulses can be used to probe the structure of liquid water in micrometre-sized droplets that have been evaporatively cooled below TH. We find experimental evidence for the existence of metastable bulk liquid water down to temperatures of 227(-1)(+2) kelvin in the previously largely unexplored no man's land. We observe a continuous and accelerating increase in structural ordering on supercooling to approximately 229 kelvin, where the number of droplets containing ice crystals increases rapidly. But a few droplets remain liquid for about a millisecond even at this temperature. The hope now is that these observations and our detailed structural data will help identify those theories that best describe and explain the behaviour of water.

Selective ultrafast probing of transient hot chemisorbed and precursor states of CO on Ru(0001).

We have studied the femtosecond dynamics following optical laser excitation of CO adsorbed on a Ru surface by monitoring changes in the occupied and unoccupied electronic structure using ultrafast soft x-ray absorption and emission. We recently reported [M. Dell'Angela et al. Science 339, 1302 (2013)] a phonon-mediated transition into a weakly adsorbed precursor state occurring on a time scale of >2 ps prior to desorption. Here we focus on processes within the first picosecond after laser excitation and show that the metal-adsorbate coordination is initially increased due to hot-electron-driven vibrational excitations. This process is faster than, but occurs in parallel with, the transition into the precursor state. With resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy, we probe each of these states selectively and determine the respective transient populations depending on optical laser fluence. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of CO adsorbed on Ru(0001) were performed at 1500 and 3000 K providing insight into the desorption process.

Real-time observation of surface bond breaking with an x-ray laser.

We used the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron x-ray laser to probe the electronic structure of CO molecules as their chemisorption state on Ru(0001) changes upon exciting the substrate by using a femtosecond optical laser pulse. We observed electronic structure changes that are consistent with a weakening of the CO interaction with the substrate but without notable desorption. A large fraction of the molecules (30%) was trapped in a transient precursor state that would precede desorption. We calculated the free energy of the molecule as a function of the desorption reaction coordinate using density functional theory, including van der Waals interactions. Two distinct adsorption wells-chemisorbed and precursor state separated by an entropy barrier-explain the anomalously high prefactors often observed in desorption of molecules from metals.

Wide-angle X-ray diffraction and molecular dynamics study of medium-range order in ambient and hot water.

We have developed wide-angle X-ray diffraction measurements with high energy-resolution and accuracy to study water structure at three different temperatures (7, 25 and 66 °C) under normal pressure. Using a spherically curved Ge crystal an energy resolution better than 15 eV has been achieved which eliminates influence from Compton scattering. The high quality of the data allows for a reliable Fourier transform of the experimental data resolving shell structure out to ~12 Å, i.e. 5 hydration shells. Large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the TIP4P/2005 force-field reproduce excellently the experimental shell-structure in the range 4-12 Å although less agreement is seen for the first peak in the intermolecular pair-correlation function (PCF). The Shiratani-Sasai Local Structure Index [J. Chem. Phys. 104, 7671 (1996)] identifies a tetrahedral minority giving the intermediate-range oscillations in the O-O PCF and a disordered majority providing a more featureless background in this range. The current study supports the proposal that the structure of liquid water, even at high temperatures, can be described in terms of a two-state fluctuation model involving local structures related to the high-density and low-density forms of liquid water postulated in the liquid-liquid phase transition hypothesis.