Speaker
Description
Be it in heterogeneous catalysis, combustion, the atmosphere or in the interstellar medium, reactive and elusive intermediates are the key players responsible for the branching of chemical reaction pathways. This makes radicals, carbenes or ketenes in control of the selectivity of industrial processes. However, catching elusive intermediates is challenging but essential for unveiling the reaction mechanism. In this short talk, I will introduce Photoelectron Photoion Coincidence (PEPICO) spectroscopy with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron radiation as a multiplexed, rapid, and sensitive detection tool for reaction intermediates, developed at the Swiss Light Source. PEPICO combines the sensitivity of mass spectrometry (1st analytical dimension), the isomer-specifity of (threshold) photoelectron spectroscopy (2nd) and the performance of ion velocity map imaging (VMI, 3rd) to trace complex reaction mixtures. I will give a few examples from heterogeneous catalysis, atmospheric as well as interstellar chemistry.
