Probing the outermost layer of a free liquid surface electron spectroscopy of formamide under He(23S) impact

Angle resolved ion scattering spectroscopy reveals the local topography around atoms in a liquid surface

Neutral impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy under normal incidence is known to yield the concentration depth profiles of all elements except hydrogen at the surface of liquids and other amorphous material. In the evaluation of the data one tactically has to assume that the top surface layer and the adjacent layers are laterally homogeneous. In the present paper we establish that the angular resolved mode of this spectroscopy is able to test with high accuracy whether the lateral homogeneity is valid and-if this is not the case-in which way the top layer is structured. In particular, it is possible to map out the local environment of selected atoms. We expect that this so far inaccessible information on the local topography at liquid surfaces will have an impact on the understanding of reactions at the gas/liquid interface.

Angle resolved ion scattering spectroscopy at surfaces of pure liquids: topography and orientation of molecules

The topography of a liquid surface has not been the subject of experimental research because of a lack of experimental methods. The hereby outlined investigation shows how the topography of a liquid surface can be classified through the angular mode of neutral impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy. It further shows how concentration depth profiles with a high depth resolution are gained. These can be used as the basis to determine quantitatively the orientation of molecules. The substances investigated are the polar solvents formamide and benzyl alcohol.

Anomalous Microscopic Dielectric Response of Dipolar Solvents and Water

This paper reports measurements of static microscopic dielectric response of several dipolar solvents to charge redistribution in a fluorescent probe. Contrary to recent predictions of dielectric theories and computer simulations of bulk liquids, the observed dielectric response of most solvents conforms to the macroscopic continuum description even at atomic distances, as if these solvents had no spatial intermolecular structure. Such conformance is observed for several probes when the contribution of specific probe-solvent interactions to the response is negligible. However, water, formamide, and glycerol exhibit anomalous responses even though such a probe is used. We discuss a possible reason for the macroscopic-like behavior and a connection between the anomaly and fluctuating structures formed by anomalous solvents near the hydrophobic surface of the probe.

Structures and dynamics of molecules on liquid beam surfaces

In this review, we describe experimental studies on structures and dynamics of molecules on clean liquid surfaces in a vacuum. These studies use clean-surface preparations in combination with highly sensitive laser-, photoelectron-, and mass-spectroscopic techniques. In particular, we refer to our recent studies on solvation structures and reactions on various solution surfaces using liquid beam-multiphoton ionization-mass spectrometry. These include (a) aggregation of solute molecules on solution surfaces such as formation of solute pairs, clusters, and islands; and (b) chemical reactions induced by photoexcitation and -ionization, such as a nucleophilic reaction of phenyl ketones, polymerization of halo-anilines, and reduction of cations by solvated electrons.