Science· 2014Q1
The structure of interfacial water on gold electrodes studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy
- 584citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2014year
Short summary
X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) reveals that water molecules at gold electrode interfaces adopt a different structure than bulk water, with ~50% lying flat with saturated hydrogen bonds.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Interfacial water structure differs from bulk water at gold electrodes.
- ~50% of interfacial water molecules lie flat with saturated hydrogen bonds.
- Broken hydrogen bonds in interfacial water are not detected by XAS due to delocalization.
- Negative bias increases flat-lying molecules with broken hydrogen bonds, mimicking bulk water spectra.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The molecular structure of the electrical double layer determines the chemistry in all electrochemical processes. Using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), we probed the structure of water near gold electrodes and its bias dependence. Electron yield XAS detected at the gold electrode revealed that the interfacial water molecules have a different structure from those in the bulk. First principles calculations revealed that ~50% of the molecules lie flat on the surface with saturated hydrogen bonds and another substantial fraction with broken hydrogen bonds that do not contribute to the XAS spectrum because their core-excited states are delocalized by coupling with the gold substrate. At negative bias, the population of flat-lying molecules with broken hydrogen bonds increases, producing a spectrum similar to that of bulk water.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science, 2014 · DOI ↗
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Field: Electrochemistry
ElectrochemistryChemistry