title: Photoinduced water splitting in pyridine water clusters.
abstract: Ab initio calculations predict that pyridine (Py) can act as a photo-catalyst to split water by the absorption of a UV photon following the reaction Py-H2O + hν → PyH˙ + OH˙. To test this prediction, we performed two types of experiments: in the first, we characterize the electronic spectroscopy of the PyH˙ radical in the gas phase. In the second, we evidence the reaction through the UV excitation of molecular Py-(H2O)nclusters obtained in a supersonic expansion and monitoring the PyH˙ reaction product. The results show unambiguously that PyH˙ is produced, and thus that water is split using pyridine as a photo-catalyst.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires (PIIM) UMR-7345, Marseille, France. Christophe.jouvet@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Esteves-López
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires (PIIM) UMR-7345, Marseille, France. Christophe.jouvet@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Stephane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coussan
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires (PIIM) UMR-7345, Marseille, France. Christophe.jouvet@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dedonder-Lardeux
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires (PIIM) UMR-7345, Marseille, France. Christophe.jouvet@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jouvet