Interfacial structures of acidic and basic aqueous solutions

Phase-sensitive sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy was used to study water/vapor interfaces of HCl, HI, and NaOH solutions. The measured imaginary part of the surface spectral responses provided direct characterization of OH stretch vibrations and information about net polar orientations of Water species contributing to different regions of the spectrum. We found clear evidence that hydronium ions prefer to emerge at interfaces. Their OH stretches contribute to the ice-like band in the spectrum. Their charges create a positive surface field that tends to reorient water molecules more loosely bonded to the topmost water layer with oxygen toward the interface, and thus enhances significantly the liquid-like band in the spectrum. Iodine ions in solution also like to appear at the interface and alter the positive surface field by forming a narrow double-charge layer with hydronium ions. In NaOH solution, the observed weak change of the liquid-like band and disappearance of the ice-like band in the spectrum indicates that OH- ions must also have excess at the interface. How they are incorporated in the interfacial water structure is, however, not clear.