Mössbauer studies on laser evaporated iron atoms and their reactions with oxygen in argon matrices.

Laser-evaporated iron atoms were isolated in low-temperature Ar matrices and their chemical reactions with oxygen were investigated by means of Mossbauer spectroscopy. Reactions of iron atoms with oxygen produce FeO, Fe(O-2), FeO3, (O-2)FeO2 and OFeO isolated in the Ar matrices and their yields vary depending on the concentration of oxygen. Similarly, FeO and Fe(O-2) were obtained by the reaction of iron atoms with N2O. infrared spectroscopy and molecular orbital calculations were applied to support their assignments. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.