The water splitting reaction based on the promising TiO(2) photocatalyst is one of the fundamental processes that bears significant implication in hydrogen energy technology and has been extensively studied. However, a long-standing puzzling question in understanding the reaction sequence of the water splitting is whether the initial reaction step is a photocatalytic process and how it happens. Here, using the low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) performed at 80 K, we observed the dissociation of individually adsorbed water molecules at the 5-fold coordinated Ti (Ti(5c)) sites of the reduced TiO(2) (110)-1 × 1 surface under the irradiation of UV lights with the wavelength shorter than 400 nm, or to say its energy larger than the band gap of 3.1 eV for the rutile TiO(2). This finding thus clearly suggests the involvement of a photocatalytic dissociation process that produces two kinds of hydroxyl species. One is always present at the adjacent bridging oxygen sites, that is, OH(br), and the other either occurs as OH(t) at Ti(5c) sites away from the original ones or even desorbs from the surface. In comparison, the tip-induced dissociation of the water can only produce OH(t) or oxygen adatoms exactly at the original Ti(5c) sites, without the trace of OH(br). Such a difference clearly indicates that the photocatalytic dissociation of the water undergoes a process that differs significantly from the attachment of electrons injected by the tip. Our results imply that the initial step of the water dissociation under the UV light irradiation may not be reduced by the electrons, but most likely oxidized by the holes generated by the photons.

Three-dimensional (3D) Dirac semimetals, which possess 3D linear dispersion in the electronic structure as a bulk analogue of graphene, have lately generated widespread interest in both materials science and condensed matter physics. Recently, crystalline Cd3As2 has been proposed and proved to be a 3D Dirac semimetal that can survive in the atmosphere. Here, by using point contact spectroscopy measurements, we observe exotic superconductivity around the point contact region on the surface of Cd3As2 crystals. The zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) and double conductance peaks (DCPs) symmetric around zero bias suggest p-wave-like unconventional superconductivity. Considering the topological properties of 3D Dirac semimetals, our findings may indicate that Cd3As2 crystals under certain conditions could be topological superconductors, which are predicted to support Majorana zero modes or gapless Majorana edge/surface modes in the boundary depending on the dimensionality of the material.

Good quality resonance Raman (RR) spectra have been obtained for cytochrome c peroxidase single crystals (0.2 x 0.5 x 1 mm) lying on their 110 faces on a microscope stage. Crystal orientation and polarization effects are observed which differentiate the RR bands on the basis of the symmetries of the porphyrin vibrational modes. The measured depolarization ratios are accurately calibrated for isolated bands of both totally symmetric and non totally symmetric modes by using a model of D4h chromophores in an oriented gas using the crystal structure atomic coordinates. The calculations indicate that the electronic transition moments are approximately along the lines connecting the methine bridges, suggesting an electronic steering effect of the vinyl groups. Deviations are observed for bands associated with the porphyrin v10 and the vinyl C = C stretching modes, which may be due to their near-resonant interaction. The band frequencies correspond to those of a five-coordinate high-spin FeIII heme, as previously observed in solution, consistent with the X-ray structure showing the Fe atom to be out of the heme plane on the proximal side with a distal water molecule located at a nonbonded distance, 2.4 A. The temperature dependence of the RR spectrum was determined with a Joule-Thompson cryostat on crystals sealed in glass capillaries. As the temperature is lowered, the spectrum converts to one characteristic of a low-spin FeIII heme. The conversion, which is readily reversible, is quite gradual. It is detectable at -50 degrees C but is incomplete even at -190 degrees C. A temperature effect on the protein structure is proposed which permits the Fe atom to approach the heme plane and bind the distal water molecule, or the distal histidine.