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Updated: Sep 6, 2025

Phase Diagram Characterization Using Magnetic Beads as Liquid Carriers
Published on: September 4, 2015
Identification of a quasi-liquid phase at solid-liquid interface
Xinxing Peng1,2,3, Fu-Chun Zhu1, You-Hong Jiang1
1State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
Abstract:
An understanding of solid-liquid interfaces is of great importance for fundamental research as well as industrial applications. However, it has been very challenging to directly image solid-liquid interfaces with high resolution, thus their structure and properties are often unknown. Here, we report a quasi-liquid phase between metal (In, Sn) nanoparticle surfaces and an aqueous solution observed using liquid cell transmission electron microscopy. Our real-time high-resolution imaging reveals a thin layer of liquid-like materials at the interfaces with the frequent appearance of small In nanoclusters. Such a quasi-liquid phase serves as an intermediate for the mass transport from the metal nanoparticle to the liquid. Density functional theory-molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that the positive charges of In ions greatly contribute to the stabilization of the quasi-liquid phase on the metal surface.
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