Probing the charge distribution at the electrochemical interface

In-situ surface x-ray diffraction has enabled an atomic/molecular-level understanding of the
interface under reactive conditions, including its potential and time dependence, to be
developed. While information about the atomic structure of the electrode surface in
electrochemical in-situ cells has been widely investigated, insight into the charge
distribution and the structure of the electrolyte at the interface is still lacking.
A fundamental understanding of the nature of the charge transfer, especially the influence
of the applied potential and the screening by the electrolyte, is a major goal in
electrochemistry to better understand electrochemical processes and charge transfer during adsorption and deposition.[1]

In-situ studies of the chemical bonding are rather difficult due to the presence of the
electrolyte, as standard characterisation techniques which are mostly UHV based cannot be
applied. Thus combining x-ray spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction to gain site specific
information about the charge distribution at buried interfaces is a promising tool. [2,3]
Examples of how the use of surface x-ray scattering techniques can help to characterise
electrochemical interfaces in-situ in order to link, structure, reactivity and stability will be
presented. Advances in these directions offer possibilities in elucidating atomic scale models
of the electrochemical interface and thus will help to establish structure-stability-reactivity relationships.

References:
[1] Y. Gründer, P. Thompson, A. Brownrigg, M. Darlington, and C. A. Lucas, Journal of Physical
Chemistry C, 2012,116, 6283
[2] Y. Gründer and C. A. Lucas, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2017, 19, 8416
[3] Y. Joly et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput,. 2018, 14, 973−980