Surface spectroscopy articles within Nature Chemistry

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The organization of electrolytes at the air/water interface affects the structure of interfacial water and therefore numerous natural processes. It has now been demonstrated that the surface of an electrolyte solution is stratified and consists of an ion-depleted outer surface and an ion-enriched subsurface layer, jointly determining the water interfacial structure.

    • Yair Litman
    • , Kuo-Yang Chiang
    •  & Mischa Bonn

  • News & Views |

    The physical properties of a liquid at an interface differ from bulk solution limits, but how this affects chemical reactivity is unclear. Now, ultrafast, surface-sensitive vibrational spectroscopy has revealed that the light-induced reaction of phenol with water is four orders of magnitude faster at the water surface than in bulk.

    • Robert A. Walker

  • Article |

    Reactions at the interface between water and other phases play important roles in various chemical settings. Now, ultrafast phase-sensitive interface-selective vibrational spectroscopy has revealed that the photoionization of phenol can occur four orders of magnitude faster at the water surface than in the bulk aqueous phase.

    • Ryoji Kusaka
    • , Satoshi Nihonyanagi
    •  & Tahei Tahara

  • News & Views |

    Molecular vibrations can be highly effective promoters of gas-phase chemistry. Now, measurements show that excited vibrational states can survive on metal surfaces far longer than expected — reshaping our understanding of how vibrational excitation might also promote or modify heterogeneously catalysed chemistry on metals.

    • Arthur L. Utz

  • Article |

    The vibrational relaxation of molecules adsorbed at metal surfaces is considered to be relatively fast and thus examples of vibrationally induced chemistry at surfaces are rare. The adsorption and subsequent desorption of long-lived vibrationally excited CO molecules from a gold surface have now been observed, suggesting that vibrational promotion of surface chemistry might be more prevalent than currently thought.

    • Pranav R. Shirhatti
    • , Igor Rahinov
    •  & Alec M. Wodtke

  • Article |

    The manner in which carboxylates bind to the surface of nanoparticles has been an important question in materials science. Now, multinuclear magnetic resonance experiments — alongside DFT calculations, XPS and TEM measurements — have elucidated the three-dimensional ligand structures of gold nanoparticles capped with various ratios of carboxylate-containing ligands, and enabled the determination of the most probable binding modes.

    • Hind Al-Johani
    • , Edy Abou-Hamad
    •  & Jean-Marie Basset

  • News & Views |

    The slow kinetics of light-driven water oxidation on haematite is an important factor limiting the material's efficiency. Now, an intermediate of the water-splitting reaction has been identified offering hope that the full mechanism will soon be resolved.

    • Alexander J. Cowan

  • Article |

    Photoelectrochemical water oxidation with haematite is known to be associated with a build-up of holes at the electrode surface. Infrared spectra acquired during photoelectrochemical water oxidation have now allowed these holes to be identified as high-valent iron–oxo intermediate species involved in the water oxidation reaction.

    • Omid Zandi
    •  & Thomas W. Hamann

  • News & Views |

    The critical step in water splitting is the formation of a peroxo bond; the mechanism, thought to involve oxyl radical formation, remains elusive. Now, experiments reveal a distinct bond vibration directly connected to an oxyl radical that is simultaneously coupled to both the semiconductor electronic states and the motion of the surrounding water.

    • Heather Vanselous
    •  & Poul B. Petersen

  • Article |

    At water's surface, its network of hydrogen-bonds is abruptly interrupted, conferring distinct properties on interfacial water from bulk water. Understanding aqueous interfaces is essential for many environmental, technological and biophysical systems, and now the pathways and rates of energy transfer at the water/air interface are elucidated using a surface-specific ultrafast spectroscopic technique.

    • Zhen Zhang
    • , Lukasz Piatkowski
    •  & Mischa Bonn

Browse broader subjects

Browse Surface spectroscopy across other nature.com journals