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Updated: Nov 19, 2025

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Hydrogen bond dynamics of interfacial water molecules revealed from two-dimensional vibrational sum-frequency
Deepak Ojha1, Thomas D Kühne2,3
1Dynamics of Condensed Matter and Center for Sustainable Systems Design, Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, Paderborn University, Warburger Str. 100, 33098, Paderborn, Germany.
Abstract:
Vibrational sum-frequency generation (vSFG) spectroscopy allows the study of the structure and dynamics of interfacial systems. In the present work, we provide a simple recipe, based on a narrowband IR pump and broadband vSFG probe technique, to computationally obtain the two-dimensional vSFG spectrum of water molecules at the air-water interface. Using this technique, to study the time-dependent spectral evolution of hydrogen-bonded and free water molecules, we demonstrate that at the interface, the vibrational spectral dynamics of the free OH bond is faster than that of the bonded OH mode.
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