A New Understanding of the Interfacial Layer Scientific

A New Understanding of the Interfacial Layer Scientific Achievement ALS researchers have made a first-ever observation of the structure of liquid water at a gold electrode surface under different charging conditions. Significance and Impact Understanding this interfacial layer is critical to understanding a diverse set of phenomena from biology to materials science. Research Details −ALS researchers developed a method based on x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to look at the molecules next to the electrode surface, but to determine their arrangement changes depending on the voltage. −Researchers measured electron emissions because electrons emitted from x-ray-excited water molecules travel only nanometer distances through matter. Upon absorbing an x-ray photon, the excited water molecule emits either electrons or photons. The amount of photon emission, or fluorescence, is one indicator of how many x-ray photons have been absorbed. The challenge was to collect a signal that would be dominated by the interfacial region. Researchers accomplished this by measuring electron emissions because electrons emitted from x-ray excited water molecules travel only nanometer distances through matter. Publication about this research: J. Velasco-Velez, C. Wu, T. A. Pascal, L. F. Wan, J. Guo, D. Prendergast, and M. Salmeron. “The structure of interfacial water on gold electrodes studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy, ” Science 346, 3624 (2014). Work was performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ALS Beamline 8. 0. 1. Operation of the ALS is supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Read the full highlight: http: //www-als. lbl. gov/index. php/science-highlights/1002