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Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Interfacial Molecular-level Structures of Polymers and Biomacromolecules Revealed via Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy
Published on: August 13, 2019
Deciphering the Properties of Nanoconfined Aqueous Solutions by Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy
Banshi Das1, Sergi Ruiz-Barragan1,2, Dominik Marx1
1Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Chemie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780Bochum, Germany.
Abstract:
When confined between walls at nanometer distances, water exhibits surprisingly different properties with reference to bare interfacial water. Based on computer simulations, we demonstrate how vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy can be used-even with very mild symmetry breaking-to discriminate multilayer water in wide slit pores from both bilayer and monolayer water confined within molecularly narrow pores. Applying the technique, the VSFG lineshapes of monolayer, bilayer, and multilayer water are found to differ in characteristic ways, which is explained by their distinct density stratifications giving rise to different H-bonding patterns in the respective solvation layers.
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