Linear Correlation between Water Adsorption Energies and Volta Potential Differences for Metal/water Interfaces

Potential of zero charge (PZC) is an important reference for understanding the interface charge and structure at a given potential, and its difference from the work function of metal surface (Phi(M)) is defined as the Volta potential difference (Delta Phi). In this work, we model 11 metal/water interfaces with ab initio molecular dynamics. Interestingly, we find Delta Phi is linearly correlated with the adsorption energy of water (E-ads) on the metal surface. It is revealed that the size of E-ads directly determines the coverage of chemisorbed water on the metal surface and accordingly affects the interface potential change caused by electron redistribution (Delta Phi(el)). Moreover, Delta Phi is dominated by the electronic component Delta Phi(el) with little orientational dipole contributing, which explains the linear correlation between Delta Phi and E-ads. Finally, it is expected that this correlation can be helpful for effectively estimating the Delta Phi(el) and PZC of other metal surfaces in the future work.

Automated summary

The study reveals a linear correlation between the adsorption energy of water on metal surface and the interface potential difference, with the adsorption energy determining the coverage of chemisorbed water and influencing the interface potential change.