Observation of counterion binding in the inner Helmholtz layer at the ionic surfactant-water interface

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Auteurs principaux: Peng, Yuyang, Gu, Feng, Tian, Chuanshan
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Peng, Yuyang
Gu, Feng
Tian, Chuanshan
author_facet Peng, Yuyang
Gu, Feng
Tian, Chuanshan
contents Understanding specific ion adsorption within the inner Helmholtz layer remains central to electrochemistry yet experimentally elusive. Here we directly quantify counterion adsorption and extract the associated thermodynamic parameters within the inner Helmholtz layer using phase-sensitive sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy (PS-SFVS). Using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a model ionic surfactant, we determine the Na+ and DS- surface densities by simultaneously analyzing interfacial free OH response and the diffuse-layer SF signal, from which the adsorption thermodynamic parameters are derived. We then construct an adsorption phase diagram that maps the evolution of Na+ and DS- species in the compact layer as functions of bulk NaCl and SDS concentrations, revealing a continuous increase in surface ion pairing. The DS-: Na+ pairing ratio gradually decreases with increasing NaCl and approaches 2.8 at the supersaturation state prior to surface nucleation. These results establish PS-SFVS as a quantitative probe of ion-headgroup correlations in charged interfaces and reveal the thermodynamic mechanism underlying counterion-mediated interfacial ordering, with broad implications for electrolyte design, biomembrane stability, and soft-matter assembly.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_19554
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observation of counterion binding in the inner Helmholtz layer at the ionic surfactant-water interface
Peng, Yuyang
Gu, Feng
Tian, Chuanshan
Optics
Chemical Physics
Understanding specific ion adsorption within the inner Helmholtz layer remains central to electrochemistry yet experimentally elusive. Here we directly quantify counterion adsorption and extract the associated thermodynamic parameters within the inner Helmholtz layer using phase-sensitive sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy (PS-SFVS). Using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a model ionic surfactant, we determine the Na+ and DS- surface densities by simultaneously analyzing interfacial free OH response and the diffuse-layer SF signal, from which the adsorption thermodynamic parameters are derived. We then construct an adsorption phase diagram that maps the evolution of Na+ and DS- species in the compact layer as functions of bulk NaCl and SDS concentrations, revealing a continuous increase in surface ion pairing. The DS-: Na+ pairing ratio gradually decreases with increasing NaCl and approaches 2.8 at the supersaturation state prior to surface nucleation. These results establish PS-SFVS as a quantitative probe of ion-headgroup correlations in charged interfaces and reveal the thermodynamic mechanism underlying counterion-mediated interfacial ordering, with broad implications for electrolyte design, biomembrane stability, and soft-matter assembly.
title Observation of counterion binding in the inner Helmholtz layer at the ionic surfactant-water interface
topic Optics
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.19554