Formation and photolysis of tantalum sulfide cluster ions

Abstract

Tantalum sulfide cluster ions (TanS+m, n⩽ 9, m⩽ 30) have been produced by direct laser ablation of a mixture of tantalum and sulfur powders, and have been studied with a tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The tantalum sulfide cluster ions in maximum abundance were TanS+2n+ 7(n= 1–9) detected in the first stage mass spectra. The main dissociation path of the UV-photolysis (248 nm) of tantalum sulfide cluster ions is a sequential S2 loss. For cluster ions with n 3, the photolysis yields Ta3S+4 or Ta4S+6 as the major product. Structures with Ta3S4 and Ta4S6 as the framework were suggested for the large tantalum sulfide cluster ions.