PNNL

Abstract

A unified view of the structure of the air/solution interface of simple aqueous electrolytes containing monovalent inorganic ions is developed using molecular dynamics simulations and vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy. In salt solutions and bases the positively charged ions, such as alkali cations, are repelled from the air/solution interface, while the anions, such as halides or hydroxide, exhibit a varying propensity for the surface, correlated primarily with the polarizability of the ion. As a result, there is a net depletion of ions from the interfacial layer as a whole, which is connected via the Gibbs adsorption equation to an increase in surface tension with respect to neat water. The behavior of acids, such as aqueous HCl or HBr, is different due to a significant propensity of hydronium cations for the air/solution interface. Therefore, both cations and anions exhibit enhanced concentrations at the surface and, consequently, these acids reduce the surface tension of water. The key to the qualitatively different surface behavior of aqueous salt solutions and bases on one side and acids on the other thus lies in the appreciable adsorption of hydronium cations at the air/solution interface with their “hydrophobic” oxygen side oriented towards the gas phase. The results of the molecular dynamics calculations are supported by surface selective non-linear vibrational spectroscopy, which reveals among other things that the hydronium cations are present at the air/solution interface. The propensity of inorganic ions for the air/solution interface has important implications for heterogeneous chemical processes, in particular for atmospheric chemistry.