Photoelectron Emission Spectroscopy of Cyanometalate Complexes in Aqueous Solutions

Improved experimental methods for photoelectron emission (PEE) spectroscopy of solutions were developed and applied to aqueous solutions of K4Fe(CN)6 and similar emitters. Aspects covered for K4Fe(CN)6: back scattering of electrons in water vapor; lack of detectable Schottky effect; determination of a red shift of the PEE spectrum at constant current upon temperature increase (≈ − 5 × 10−4 eV per degree); variation of quantum yield (≈ 2 × 10−9 to ≈ 2 × 10−5 collected electron per incident photon) with photon energy for concentrations from 0.005 to 0.1 mole liter−1; dependence of molar quantum yield on emitter concentration. PEE spectra are also given for 0.1M aqueous solutions of Na3[Fe(CN)5H2O], Na3[Fe(CN)5NH3], K4Mn(CN)6, K4Ru(CN)6, K4Mo(CN)8, K4W(CN)8.