Abstract
The physics and chemistry of liquid solutions play a central role in science, and our understanding of life on Earth. Unfortunately, key tools for interrogating aqueous systems, such as infrared and soft X-ray spectroscopy, cannot readily be applied because of strong absorption in water. Here we use gas-dynamic forces to generate free-flowing, sub-micron, liquid sheets which are two orders of magnitude thinner than anything previously reported. Optical, infrared, and X-ray spectroscopies are used to characterize the sheets, which are found to be tunable in thickness from over 1 μm down to less than 20 nm, which corresponds to fewer than 100 water molecules thick. At this thickness, aqueous sheets can readily transmit photons across the spectrum, leading to potentially transformative applications in infrared, X-ray, electron spectroscopies and beyond. The ultrathin sheets are stable for days in vacuum, and we demonstrate their use at free-electron laser and synchrotron light sources.
Highlights
Much of the chemistry critical to life on Earth occurs in a liquid environment, and achieving a better understanding of these processes requires that measurements be made in the liquid state
Sub-micron cylindrical liquid jets have been used for spectroscopic applications[3], but photon scattering and refraction due to the cylindrical liquid boundary, as well as reduced signal from mismatch between jet diameter and focus size, are often problematic
We demonstrate generation of free-flowing liquid sheets, with thickness tunable down to 10’s of nm, using a microfluidic nozzle operating in the 150 μL min−1 flow range. These sheets can be used for IR, X-ray and even electron spectroscopy, and will be advantageous for high-resolution time-resolved techniques
Summary
Much of the chemistry critical to life on Earth occurs in a liquid environment, and achieving a better understanding of these processes requires that measurements be made in the liquid state. The infrared (IR) and soft X-ray regions of the spectrum, e.g., are critical for understanding basic physics, biology, and chemistry, but are difficult to apply to liquids due to the need for sub-micron thick samples. We demonstrate generation of free-flowing liquid sheets, with thickness tunable down to 10’s of nm, using a microfluidic nozzle operating in the 150 μL min−1 flow range. At this thickness, these sheets can be used for IR, X-ray and even electron spectroscopy, and will be advantageous for high-resolution time-resolved techniques. The ultrathin sheets can operate stably in vacuum for days, and we demonstrate their application to soft X-ray and IR spectroscopy
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