Abstract
Liquid-vapor interfaces, particularly those between aqueous solutions and air, drive numerous important chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere and in the environment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is an excellent method for the investigation of these interfaces due to its surface sensitivity, elemental and chemical specificity, and the possibility to obtain information on the depth distribution of solute and solvent species in the interfacial region. In this Perspective, we review the progress that was made in this field over the past decades and discuss the challenges that need to be overcome for investigations of heterogeneous reactions at liquid-vapor interfaces under close-to-realistic environmental conditions. We close with an outlook on where some of the most exciting and promising developments might lie in this field.
Highlights
The liquid–vapor interface is of profound scientific, environmental, technological, and public health interest
In this Perspective, we review the progress that was made in this field over the past decades and discuss the challenges that need to be overcome for investigations of heterogeneous reactions at liquid–vapor interfaces under close-torealistic environmental conditions
In this Perspective, we focus on the investigation of liquid– vapor interfaces by core level x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),[47] which is complementary to the above-listed techniques since it provides direct information on the elemental and chemical composition of a surface
Summary
The liquid–vapor interface is of profound scientific, environmental, technological, and public health interest. The same can be said for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), which—to the best of our knowledge—has only been applied once to the measurement of liquids.[46] In this Perspective, we focus on the investigation of liquid– vapor interfaces by core level x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),[47] which is complementary to the above-listed techniques since it provides direct information on the elemental and chemical composition of a surface (e.g., functional groups and oxidation state). There are two main approaches to overcome this obstacle: for one, the background pressure can be reduced by many orders of magnitude in experiments using fast flowing jets[52] or droplet trains,[53] which are frozen out rapidly after the liquid jet was probed by XPS This is a versatile approach for investigations of the interface chemical composition of solutions or for fast reactions, as discussed below. KF Imidazole NaCl, NaClO, NaClO2, NaClO3, NaClO4 NaOH NaNO3, NaNO2 LiBr, LiI, NaBr, NaCl NaCl, MgCl2, AlCl3 NaI SiO2 nanoparticles
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