Dynamical aspects and the role of IVR for the reactivity of noble metal clusters towards molecular oxygen

Here, we present the dynamical aspects and the role of internal energy redistribution (IVR) in the reactivity of noble metal clusters towards O2. We show on the example of Ag3O2- / Ag3O2 / Ag3O2+ that NeNePo spectroscopy carried out under zero electron kinetic energy (ZEKE) conditions can be a powerful tool to investigate the geometry relaxation and IVR induced by photodetachment in real time. Furthermore, we demonstrate that difference in the reactivity of Ag6- and Au6- towards O2 can be attributed to different nature of the IVR process. Dissipative IVR in Ag6- favors fast complex stabilization, whereas resonant IVR found for Au6- might be an important factor determining the catalytic activity of Au6- cluster in the CO oxidation