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Determining the radial distribution function of water using electron scattering: A key to solution phase chemistry

Authors :
M B de Kock
Günther Kassier
Sana Azim
Robert J. Miller
Source :
The Journal of Chemical Physics
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

High energy electron scattering of liquid water (H2O) at near-ambient temperature and pressure was performed in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to determine the radial distribution of water, which provides information on intra- and intermolecular spatial correlations. A recently developed environmental liquid cell enables formation of a stable water layer, the thickness of which is readily controlled by pressure and flow rate adjustments of a humid air stream passing between two silicon nitride (Si3N4) membranes. The analysis of the scattering data is adapted from the x-ray methodology to account for multiple scattering in the H2O:Si3N4 sandwich layer. For the H2O layer, we obtain oxygen–oxygen (O–O) and oxygen–hydrogen (O–H) peaks at 2.84 Å and 1.83 Å, respectively, in good agreement with values in the literature. This demonstrates the potential of our approach toward future studies of water-based physics and chemistry in TEMs or electron probes of structural dynamics.

Details

Language :
English
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
The Journal of Chemical Physics
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....33fab34f345368d165c296eb3acae3ee