Adsorption of 4-picoline and piperidine to the hydrated SiO2 surface: probing the surface acidity with vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy

Vapor adsorption is an important process influencing the migration and the fate of many organic pollutants in the environment. In this study, vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy was used to study the adsorption of two surface acidity probe molecules, 4-picoline (pKa = 5.94) and piperidine (pKa = 11.24), onto the amorphous SiO2 surface. The adsorption of 4-picoline onto the silica surface occurs by forming weak hydrogen bonds between the nitrogen atoms of 4-picoline molecules and the hydrogen atoms of surface silanol OH groups. Piperidine molecules are strongly chemisorbed onto the SiO2 surface through the protonation of piperidine molecules by surface silanol OH groups. The SFG results indicate that the surface acidity constant of silanol OH groups (pKa-(HOSi triple bond)) is in the range of 5.94-11.24 at the air/solid interface. Although this range of surface acidity constants is quite wide, it is possible to narrow it by choosing probe molecules with a smaller pKa range. Together with theoretical prediction methods, adsorption studies using vibrational SFG spectroscopy are capable of quantifying the surface acidity of mineral oxides by carefully choosing the acidity probe molecules.