1. Beyond the electrical double layer model: ion-dependent effects in nanoscale solvent organization.
- Author
-
Souna, Amanda J., Motevaselian, Mohammad H., Polster, Jake W., Tran, Jason D., Siwy, Zuzanna S., Aluru, Narayana R., and Fourkas, John T.
- Abstract
The nanoscale organization of electrolyte solutions at interfaces is often described well by the electrical double-layer model. However, a recent study has shown that this model breaks down in solutions of LiClO
4 in acetonitrile at a silica interface, because the interface imposes a strong structuring in the solvent that in turn determines the preferred locations of cations and anions. As a surprising consequence of this organisation, the effective surface potential changes from negative at low electrolyte concentration to positive at high electrolyte concentration. Here we combine previous ion-current measurements with vibrational sum-frequency-generation spectroscopy experiments and molecular dynamics simulations to explore how the localization of ions at the acetonitrile–silica interface depends on the sizes of the anions and cations. We observe a strong, synergistic effect of the cation and anion identities that can prompt a large difference in the ability of ions to partition to the silica surface, and thereby influence the effective surface potential. Our results have implications for a wide range of applications that involve electrolyte solutions in polar aprotic solvents at nanoscale interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF