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Updated: Jul 14, 2025

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Probing Complex Chemical Processes at the Molecular Level with Vibrational Spectroscopy and X-ray Tools
Musahid Ahmed1, Wenchao Lu1,2
1Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
Abstract:
Understanding the origins of structure and bonding at the molecular level in complex chemical systems spanning magnitudes in length and time is of paramount interest in physical chemistry. We have coupled vibrational spectroscopy and X-ray based techniques with a series of microreactors and aerosol beams to tease out intricate and sometimes subtle interactions, such as hydrogen bonding, proton transfer, and noncovalent interactions. This allows for unraveling the self-assembly of arginine-oleic acid complexes in an aqueous solution and growth processes in a metal-organic framework. Terahertz and infrared spectroscopy provide an intimate view of the hydrogen-bond network and associated phase changes with temperature in neopentyl glycol. The hydrogen-bond network in aqueous glycerol aerosols and levels of protonation of nicotine in aqueous aerosols are visualized. Future directions in probing the hydrogen-bond networks in deep eutectic solvents and organic frameworks are described, and we suggest how X-ray scattering coupled to X-ray spectroscopy can offer insight into the reactivity of organic aerosols.
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