Measure of surface potential at the aqueous-oxide nanoparticle interface by XPS from a liquid microjet

We show that the surface potential at a water-oxide nanoparticle (NP) interface, long considered an immeasurable direct quantity, can be measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) from a liquid microjet. This new method does not require a priori knowledge of the particles' surface structure or of the ion distribution throughout the electrical double layer for its interpretation and can be applied to any colloidal suspension independent of composition, particle size and shape, and solvent. We demonstrate the application for aqueous suspensions of 9 nm colloidal silica (SiO2) at pH 0.3 and 10.0, where the surface potential changes from positive to negative. The experimental results are compared with calculated surface potentials based on Guoy-Chapman theory and are shown to be in good agreement.