Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Electric-field Control of Electronic States in WS2 Nanodevices by Electrolyte Gating
Published on: April 12, 2018
Solvent Role in the Formation of Electric Double Layers with Surface Charge Regulation: A Bystander or a Key
Mark E Fleharty1, Frank van Swol1,2, Dimiter N Petsev1
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA.
Abstract:
The charge formation at interfaces involving electrolyte solutions is due to the chemical equilibrium between the surface reactive groups and the potential determining ions in the solution (i.e., charge regulation). In this Letter we report our findings that this equilibrium is strongly coupled to the precise molecular structure of the solution near the charged interface. The neutral solvent molecules dominate this structure due to their overwhelmingly large number. Treating the solvent as a structureless continuum leads to a fundamentally inadequate physical picture of charged interfaces. We show that a proper account of the solvent effect leads to an unexpected and complex system behavior that is affected by the molecular and ionic excluded volumes and van der Waals interactions.
Related Concept Videos
The Electrical Double Layer
Processes at Electrodes
Electrochemical Systems
Induced Electric Dipoles
Since the absolute value of potential energy holds no physical meaning, its zero value can be chosen as per...
Potential Due to a Polarized Object
Theory of Strong Electrolytes

