A tunable response frequency is highly desirable for practical applications of microwave absorption materials but remains a great challenge. Here, hollow lightweight polydopamine@α-MnO2 microspindles were facilely synthesized with the tunable absorption frequency governed by the aspect ratio. The size of the hard template is a key factor to achieve the unique shape; the polymer layer with uniform thickness plays an important role in obtaining spindles with homogeneous size. With the aspect ratio increasing, the maximum reflection loss, as well as the absorption bandwidth (<-10 dB), increases and then decreases; meanwhile, the microwave absorption band shifts to the low frequency. The optimized aspect ratio of the cavity about the hollow polydopamine@α-MnO2 microspindles is ∼2.8. With 3 mm thickness at 9.7 GHz, the strongest reflection reaches -21.8 dB, and the width of the absorbing band (<-10 dB) is as wide as 3.3 GHz. Via electron holography, it is confirmed that strong charge accumulates around the interface between the polydopamine and α-MnO2 layers, which mainly contributes to the dielectric polarization absorption. This study proposes a reliable strategy to tune the absorption frequency via different aspect ratio polymer@α-MnO2 microspindles.

We report zero kinetic energy photoelectron (ZEKE) spectroscopy of pyrene via resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization. Our analysis centers on the symmetry of the first electronically excited state (S(1)), its vibrational modes, and the vibration of the ground cationic state (D(0)). From comparisons between the observed vibrational frequencies and those from ab initio calculations at the configuration interaction singles level using the 6-311G (d,p) basis set, and based on other previous experimental and theoretical reports, we confirm the (1)B(2u) symmetry for the S(1) state. This assignment represents a reversal in the energy order of the two closely spaced electronically excited states from our theoretical calculation, and extensive configuration interactions are attributed to this result. Among the observed vibrational levels of the S(1) state, three are results of vibronic coupling due to the nearby second electronically excited state. The ZEKE spectroscopy obtained via the vibronic levels of the S(1) state reveals similar modes for the cation as those of the intermediate state. Although we believe that the ground ionic state can be considered a single electron configuration, the agreement between theoretical and experimental frequencies for the cation is limited. This result is somewhat surprising based on our previous work on cata-condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and small substituted aromatic compounds. Although a relatively small molecule, pyrene demonstrates its nonrigidity via several out-of-plane bending modes corresponding to corrugation of the molecular plane. The adiabatic ionization potential of neutral pyrene is determined to be 59 888 ± 7 cm(-1).

Far infrared (FIR) spectroscopy of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is of particular interest to astrophysics since vibrational modes in this range are representative of the molecular size and shape. This information is hence important for identification of chemical compositions and for modeling of the IR spectrum observed in the outer space. In this work, we report neutral and cation FIR spectroscopy of tetracene vaporized from a laser desorption source. Results from two-color resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization and two-color zero kinetic energy photoelectron spectroscopy will be presented. Several skeletal vibrational modes of the first electronically excited state of the neutral species and those of the cation are assigned, with the aid of ab initio and density functional calculations. The adiabatic ionization potential is determined to be 55 918 +/- 7 cm(-1). Interestingly, all observed vibrational modes can be rationalized based on a simple Huckle calculation, i.e., by observing the addition or elimination of nodal planes due to electronic excitation and/or ionization. Limited by the Franck-Condon principle and the rigidity of the molecular frame of tetracene, only IR forbidden modes are observed in this work.

Far-IR spectroscopy of pentacene cation, Zhang, et al 2 ABSTRACT The distinctive set of infrared (IR) emission bands at 3. 3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, and 11.3 µm are ubiquitously seen in a wide variety of astrophysical environments. They are generally attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. However, not a single PAH species has yet been identified in space as the mid-IR vibrational bands are mostly representative of functional groups and thus do not allow one to fingerprint individual PAH molecules. In contrast, the far-IR (FIR) bands are sensitive to the skeletal characteristics of a molecule, hence they are important for chemical identification of unknown species. With an aim to offer laboratory astrophysical data for the Herschel Space Observatory, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, and similar future space missions, in this work we report neutral and cation FIR spectroscopy of pentacene (C 22 H 14 ), a five-ring PAH molecule. We report three IR active modes