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A novel nanoporous material 12CaO.7Al2O3 (C12A7) offers a possibility of incorporating large concentrations (>1021 cm-3) of a wide range of extraframework anions inside its nanopores. We have investigated, both experimentally and theoretically, optical absorption associated with several types of such anions, including F-, OH-, O-, O2-, O2-, and O22-, and assigned their optical absorption bands. It is demonstrated that the chemical identity and concentration of extraframework anions can be controlled by an appropriate treatment of "as grown" C12A7. We also show that the position of the adsorption edge is, in turn, determined by the chemical identity of the extraframework species and can be varied in the range of approximately 4-6 eV. We suggest that C12A7 is a unique host material, which can be used as a playground for studying negatively charged species that are unstable in other environments.

Ultraviolet excitation of high surface area MgO films using 4.7 eV femtosecond pulses results in neutral Mg-atom desorption with hyperthermal kinetic energies in the range 0.1-0.4 eV. The Mg-atom hyperthermal energies and power dependences are similar to those previously observed using nanosecond pulsed excitation. Femtosecond two-pulse correlation measurements reveal the existence of different dynamical paths for Mg-atom desorption. One mechanism displays a sub-150 fs time scale and involves the simultaneous or near-simultaneous transition of two electrons to a 3-coordinated Mg(2+) site. Other paths display picosecond time scales that we associate with dynamics following electron trapping at 3-coordinated Mg(2+) surface sites.

The 12CaO.7Al2O3 (C12A7) crystal with a nanoporous lattice framework exhibits high electrical conductivity with an activation energy of approximately 1.5 eV when equilibrated in a hydrogen atmosphere above approximately 800 degrees C. The high conductivity is preserved in a quenched state below approximately 600 degrees C with a reduced activation energy of approximately 0.8 eV. Such complex behavior in electrical conductivity is associated with incorporation of hydride ions (H-) in cages of the lattice framework. Electromotive force measurements reveal that the major carrier for the conductivity is electron with a small contribution by proton (H+), ruling out the possibility of direct intercage migration of the H- ion. A combination of these observations with the ab initio calculations leads to the conclusion that the electrons are thermally generated from the H- ion by the dissociation into two electrons and an proton, which is further converted to an OH- ion via reaction with an extraframework oxide ion (O2-). The energy difference between the initial (H- + O2-) and the final (2e- + OH-) states as evaluated by the theoretical calculation is as small as approximately 1 eV, which agrees well with an experimentally obtained enthalpy change, approximately 1.4 eV. Thus, internal equilibration between the extraframework hydrogen and the oxygen species is responsible for the thermal generation of the carrier electron. It is also suggested that the same conductive (2e- + OH-) state is reached by the photoirradiation of H- -containing C12A7. In this case the photoionization of H- forms an electron and an Ho atom, which then forms an OH- ion and another electron with thermal assistance. The persistence of photoinduced conductivity is explained by the slow kinetics of the reverse process at room temperature.

We review recent developments in controlling photoinduced desorption processes of alkali halides. We focus primarily on hyperthermal desorption of halogen atoms and show that the yield, electronic state, and velocity distributions of desorbed atoms can be selected using tunable laser excitation. We demonstrate that the observed control is due to preferential excitation of surface excitons. This approach takes advantage of energetic differences between surface and bulk exciton states and probes the surface exciton directly. We demonstrate that desorption of these materials leads to controlled modification of their surface geometric and electronic structures. We then extend the exciton mechanism of desorption, developed for alkali halides, to metal oxide surfaces, in particular magnesium oxide. In addition, these results demonstrate that laser desorption can serve as a solid-state source of halogen and oxygen atoms, in well-defined electronic and velocity states, for studying chemical processes in the gas phase and at surfaces.