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A new endstation to perform operando chemical analysis at solid-liquid interfaces by means of ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) is presented. The endstation is located at the Swiss Light Source and can be attached to the soft x-ray in situ spectroscopy beamline (X07DB) for solid-gas type experiments and to a tender x-ray beamline (PHOENIX I) for solid-liquid interface experiments. The setup consists of three interconnected ultrahigh vacuum chambers: one for sample preparation using surface science techniques, the analysis chamber for APXPS experiments, and an entry-lock chamber for sample transfer across the two pressure regimes. The APXPS chamber is designed to study solid-liquid interfaces stabilized by the dip and pull method. Using a three-electrode setup, the potential difference across the solid-electrolyte interface can be controlled, as is demonstrated here using an Ir(001) electrode dipped and pulled from a 0.1M KOH electrolyte. The new endstation is successfully commissioned and will offer unique opportunities for fundamental studies of phenomena that take place at solid-liquid interfaces and that are relevant for fields such as electrochemistry, photochemistry, or biochemistry, to name a few.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5128600 | DOI Listing |
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September 2025
College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
Inspired by the rigid exoskeleton and elastic inner tissues of crustaceans, a bilayer gel integrating high-strength rigidity and soft cushioning with high interfacial adhesion (1060 ± 40 J m ) is developed via a stepwise solid-liquid phase crosslinking strategy. Herein, a prefrozen high-concentration polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution forms a solid-state structural framework, while a subsequently cast low-concentration PVA solution generates a flexible layer. Partial thawing of the frozen gel during casting triggers molecular chain interpenetration at the interface, synergistically enhanced by controlled molecular penetration, freeze-thaw cycles, and salt-induced crystallization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Chem Soc
September 2025
Institute of Materials, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Localized corrosion in metallic materials is a stochastic phenomenon that causes irreversible structural failure. Its initiation, which occurs at the solid-liquid interface on the nanometer scale, remains difficult to predict and challenging to characterize. Herein, we describe an experimental platform that exploits advances in electrochemical liquid-phase scanning and transmission electron microscopy (LPSEM and LPTEM) to study pitting corrosion of thin-film pure aluminum in a saline environment in real time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Colloid Interface Sci
September 2025
State Key Laboratory of Hydro Science and Engineering, and Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. Electronic address:
Hypothesis: On highly cleaned planar surfaces submerged in highly cleaned water, flat surface nanobubbles with an angle of attachment of ∼15 are observed - never on engineering surfaces submerged in plain water, though here unidentified cavitation nuclei are always present and cause low tensile strength.
Experiments: In the present study, surface nanobubbles are generated by standard experimental techniques on a polished steel surface, and we find that the shape and the angles of attachment of the bubbles are influenced by the local substrate topography. These observations align with the theory of non-adsorbed liquid zones, which explains a surface nanobubble as a bubble with a skin of contamination molecules, which bond along the bubble rim at a contact angle of ∼14.
ACS Nano
September 2025
Center for High-Entropy Energy and Systems, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101400, China.
Mechanical stimuli have been shown to dynamically alter solid-liquid interfaces and induce electron transfer, enabling catalytic reactions, most notably contact-electro-catalysis (CEC). However, the underlying mechanism of charge transfer at solid-liquid interfaces under mechanical stimulation remains unclear, particularly at semiconductor-liquid interfaces. To date, rare studies have reported on the catalytic activity of semiconductor-liquid interfaces under mechanical stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
September 2025
Surface Science Laboratory, Department of Materials and Geosciences, Technical University of Darmstadt, Peter-Grünberg-Straße 4, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany.
The performance of NiO-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is strongly influenced by the interface between the metal support (current collector) and the catalyst layer, which modulates electronic properties and electrochemical activity. This study systematically investigates the solid-solid interface behavior of NiO thin films prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering on Pt, Au, and Ni, followed by electrochemical characterization. Stepwise NiO deposition and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal distinct band alignment and electronic structure differences at the metal-catalyst interface.
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