Ion distributions at charged aqueous surfaces: Synchrotron X-ray scattering studies
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Abstract
Surface sensitive synchrotron X-ray scattering studies were
performed to obtain the distribution of monovalent ions next to a
highly charged interface at room temperature. To control surface
charge density, lipids, dihexadecyl hydrogen-phosphate (DHDP) and
dimysteroyl phosphatidic acid (DMPA), were spread as monolayer
materials at the air/water interface, containing $\mathrm{CsI}$ at
various concentrations.
Five decades in bulk concentrations ($\mathrm{CsI}$) are
investigated, demonstrating that the interfacial distribution is
strongly dependent on bulk concentration. We show that this is due
to the strong binding constant of hydronium $\mathrm{H_{3}O^{+}}$ to
the phosphate group, leading to proton-transfer back to the
phosphate group and to a reduced surface charge. Using anomalous
reflectivity off and at the $L_{3}$ $\mathrm{Cs^{+}}$ resonance, we
provide spatial counterion ($\mathrm{Cs^{+}}$) distributions next to
the negatively charged interfaces. The experimental ion
distributions are in excellent agreement with a renormalized surface
charge Poisson-Boltzmann theory for monovalent ions without fitting
parameters or additional assumptions.
Energy Scans at four fixed momentum transfers under specular
reflectivity conditions near the $\mathrm{Cs^{+}}$ $L_{3}$ resonance
were conducted on $10^{-3}\:\mathrm{M}$ $\mathrm{CsI}$ with DHDP
monolayer materials on the surface. The energy scans exhibit a
periodic dependence on photon momentum transfer. The ion
distributions obtained from the analysis are in excellent agreement
with those obtained from anomalous reflectivity measurements,
providing further confirmation to the validity of the renormalized
surface charge Poisson-Boltzmann theory for monovalent ions.
Moreover, the dispersion corrections $f^{\prime}$ and
$f^{\prime\prime}$ for $\mathrm{Cs^{+}}$ around $L_{3}$ resonance,
revealing the local environment of a $\mathrm{Cs^{+}}$ ion in the
solution at the interface, were extracted simultaneously with output
of ion distributions.
Another independent technique, X-ray fluorescence near total
reflection was used to study ion adsorption at charged surfaces.
Below the critical angle, the X-ray fluorescence spectra are only
surface sensitive, providing the direct evidence of existence of
$\mathrm{Cs^{+}}$ at the surface. Above the critical angle,
combination of fluorescence spectra with and without the presence of
monolayer materials yields the number of accumulated
$\mathrm{Cs^{+}}$ per lipid at the surface. In addition, the
fluorescence spectra collected as a function of incident X-ray
energy near the $L_{3}$ edge provide the dispersion corrections,
consistent with the results from the energy scans.