Hot carrier-selective chemical reactions on Ag(110)

Here, we show that the pathways, products, and efficiencies of reactions occurring on a metal surface can be spatially modulated by varying the type and energy of hot carriers produced by injecting tunneling electrons or holes from a scanning tunneling microscope tip into the metal surface. Control over the metal surface reactions was demonstrated for the large-scale dissociation reaction of O₂ molecules on a Ag(110) surface. Hot electrons (or holes) transported through the metal surface to chemisorbed O₂ selectively dissociated the molecule into two oxygen atoms separated along the [11̄0] (or 001) lattice direction. The reaction selectivity was enhanced compared to the selectivity of a direct reaction involving tunneling carriers.