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Structural effects on water adsorption on gold electrodes

Structural effects on water adsorption on gold electrodes
Structural effects on water adsorption on gold electrodes
We study the molecular properties of the interface formed between aqueous sulfuric acid solutions and gold electrodes by means of surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS). The shape of the SEIRAS spectra is observed to be strongly dependent on the deposition rate with which the gold electrodes are prepared. We find that the water molecules coordinating to coadsorbed sulfate anions become invisible in the SEIRAS spectra when the gold films are deposited at 1 Å/s, instead of the customary deposition rate of 0.1 Å/s employed in previous studies. Atomic force microscopy images of the gold deposits demonstrate that the increase of the gold deposition rate produces a decrease in the size of the nanoparticles composing the gold films. This suggests that water molecules coadsorbed with sulfate anions on small gold nanoparticles are oriented parallel to the surface. On the other hand, the fact that these water molecules are not detected by SEIRAS facilitates the study of the adsorption of hydronium cations, since these SEIRAS bands overlap. It is concluded that the adsorption of sulfate anions does not involve the coadsorption of any hydronium–water complex, since the SEIRAS band of the latter species exhibits a steady decrease with increasing potential
1932-7447
21249-21257
Garcia-Araez, Nuria
9358a0f9-309c-495e-b6bf-da985ad81c37
Rodriguez, Paramaconi
5a751a4e-490e-42bb-9c22-7b0fc72e9a09
Navarro, Violeta
9e6f0020-1e9c-43fa-ab3f-aa9710f4cac8
Bakker, Huib J.
5541456a-11e1-44f4-bfd8-424c17f33d13
Koper, Marc T.M.
40a12fab-f3d3-4518-b739-95b4720ac120
Garcia-Araez, Nuria
9358a0f9-309c-495e-b6bf-da985ad81c37
Rodriguez, Paramaconi
5a751a4e-490e-42bb-9c22-7b0fc72e9a09
Navarro, Violeta
9e6f0020-1e9c-43fa-ab3f-aa9710f4cac8
Bakker, Huib J.
5541456a-11e1-44f4-bfd8-424c17f33d13
Koper, Marc T.M.
40a12fab-f3d3-4518-b739-95b4720ac120

Garcia-Araez, Nuria, Rodriguez, Paramaconi, Navarro, Violeta, Bakker, Huib J. and Koper, Marc T.M. (2011) Structural effects on water adsorption on gold electrodes. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 115 (43), 21249-21257. (doi:10.1021/jp206539a).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We study the molecular properties of the interface formed between aqueous sulfuric acid solutions and gold electrodes by means of surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS). The shape of the SEIRAS spectra is observed to be strongly dependent on the deposition rate with which the gold electrodes are prepared. We find that the water molecules coordinating to coadsorbed sulfate anions become invisible in the SEIRAS spectra when the gold films are deposited at 1 Å/s, instead of the customary deposition rate of 0.1 Å/s employed in previous studies. Atomic force microscopy images of the gold deposits demonstrate that the increase of the gold deposition rate produces a decrease in the size of the nanoparticles composing the gold films. This suggests that water molecules coadsorbed with sulfate anions on small gold nanoparticles are oriented parallel to the surface. On the other hand, the fact that these water molecules are not detected by SEIRAS facilitates the study of the adsorption of hydronium cations, since these SEIRAS bands overlap. It is concluded that the adsorption of sulfate anions does not involve the coadsorption of any hydronium–water complex, since the SEIRAS band of the latter species exhibits a steady decrease with increasing potential

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Published date: 17 September 2011
Organisations: Electrochemistry

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Local EPrints ID: 345746
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/345746
ISSN: 1932-7447
PURE UUID: 9e1ad48b-173c-4027-aa62-1a8bdd220ded
ORCID for Nuria Garcia-Araez: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9095-2379

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Date deposited: 29 Nov 2012 14:16
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:46

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Contributors

Author: Paramaconi Rodriguez
Author: Violeta Navarro
Author: Huib J. Bakker
Author: Marc T.M. Koper

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