Photochemistry of iron pentacarbonyl adsorbed on titanium dioxide

Abstract

AbstractThe photolysis of iron carbonyl (Fe(CO)5) adsorbed on titanium dioxide (TiO2, anatase) was studied by FT‐IR spectroscopy. When adsorbed Fe(CO)5 is illuminated by visible and near‐UV light, the IR spectrum of its photolysis products is hardly observed, indicating that most of the Fe(CO)5 is photodecomposed to iron(0) or iron oxides on TiO2. The carbon monoxide (CO) evolution rate upon illumination depends on the wavelength of light; 433 nm light is more effective for CO evolution than 366 nm light. This result implies that the band‐gap excitation of TiO2 has little effect on the photolysis of adsorbed Fe(CO)5, since the absorption edge of TiO2 (anatase) lies at around 400 nm. The effects of substrates on the photolysis of adsorbed Fe(CO)5 are discussed with reference to previous results obtained for aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and silicon dioxide (SiO2), on which the photolysis leads to the formation of Fe2(CO)9 or Fe3(CO)12.