Revealing the interfacial water structure on a p-nitrobenzoic acid specifically adsorbed Au(111) surface

The detailed structure of the water layer in the inner Helmholtz plane of a solid/aqueous solution interface is closely related to the electrochemical and catalytic performances of electrode materials. While the applied potential can have a great impact, specifically adsorbed species can also influence the interfacial water structure. With the specific adsorption of p-nitrobenzoic acid on the Au(111) surface, a protruding band above 3600 cm^-1 appears in the electrochemical infrared spectra, indicating a distinct interfacial water structure as compared to that on bare metal surfaces, which displays a potential-dependent broad band in the range of 3400-3500 cm^-1. Although three possible structures have been guessed for this protruding infrared band, the band assignment and interfacial water structure remain ambiguous in the past two decades. Herein, by combining surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy and our newly developed quantitative computational method for electrochemical infrared spectra, the protruding infrared band is clearly assigned to the surface-enhanced stretching mode of water molecules hydrogen-bonded to the adsorbed p-nitrobenzoate ions. Water molecules, meanwhile, are hydrogen-bonded with themselves to form chains of five-membered rings. Based on the reaction free energy diagram, we further demonstrate that both hydrogen-bonding interactions and coverages of specifically adsorbed p-nitrobenzoate play an important role in determining the structure of the water layer in the Au(111)/p-nitrobenzoic acid solution interface. Our work sheds light on structural studies of the inner Helmholtz plane under specific adsorptions, which advances the understanding of structure-property relationships in electrochemical and heterogeneous catalytic systems.