Photoemission, resonant photoemission, and x-ray absorption of a Ru(II) complex adsorbed on rutile TiO2 (110) prepared by in situ electrospray deposition

An experimental study of the bonding geometry and electronic coupling of cis-bis(isothiocyanato)bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylato)-ruthenium( II) (N3) adsorbed on rutile TiO2(110) is presented, along with supporting theoretical calculations of the bonding geometry. Samples were prepared in situ using ultrahigh vacuum electrospray deposition. Core-level photoemission spectroscopy was used to characterize the system and to deduce the nature of the molecule-surface bonding. Valence band photoemission and N 1s x-ray absorption spectra were aligned in a common binding energy scale to enable a quantitative analysis of the bandgap region. A consideration of the energetics in relation to optical absorption is used to identify the photoexcitation channel between the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals in this system, and also to quantify the relative binding energies of core and valence excitons. The core-hole clock implementation of resonant photoemission spectroscopy is used to reveal that electron delocalization from N3 occurs within 16 fs. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2975339