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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Analysis of water in confined geometries and at interfaces
Michael D Fayer1, Nancy E Levinger
1Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. fayer@stanford.edu
Abstract:
The properties of water depend on its extended hydrogen bond network and the continual picosecond-time scale structural evolution of the network. Water molecules in confined environments with pools a few nanometers in diameter or at interfaces undergo hydrogen bond structural dynamics that differ drastically from the dynamics they undergo in bulk water. Orientational motions of water require hydrogen bond network rearrangement. Therefore, observations of orientational relaxation in nanoscopic water systems provide information about the influence of confinement and interfaces on hydrogen bond dynamics. Ultrafast infrared polarization- and wavelength-selective pump-probe experiments can measure the orientational relaxation of water and distinguish water at an interface from water removed from an interface. These experiments can be applied to water in reverse micelles (spherical nanopools). The results provide quantitative determination of the dynamics of water as a function of the size and nature of the confining structure.
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