| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Surface Science Division | Monday Sessions |
| Session SS1-MoM |
| Session: | Water Films & Environmental Interfaces |
| Presenter: | Alexandria Margarella, University of California, Irvine |
| Authors: | A. Margarella, University of California, Irvine T. Lewis, University of California, Irvine M. Faubel, Max-Plank-Institut fur Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, Germany B. Winter, Hemholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie, Germany J.C. Hemminger, University of California, Irvine |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Sulfuric acid is amongst the most widely used acids in the chemical industry, as well as having an important presence in atmospheric aerosols. Using a micro-liquid jet, the chemistry at the liquid-vapor interface of aqueous solutions is explored in-situ by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Experiments presented were preformed at Beamline U41 at the BESSY II synchrotron facility. By tuning the energy of the incoming photons, the kinetic energy of the photoelectrons is varied, allowing measurements from different depths of solution. As a strong diprotic acid, an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid will have HSO4- and SO42- present, and at high concentrations, (greater than 16M) undissociated H2SO4 is present. In XPS, all of these components are distinguishable using their S2p binding energy shifts. A series of sulfuric acid aqueous solutions with concentrations up to 16M is measured and using the peak areas in the XP spectra, the dissociation at the surface relative to the bulk can be determined for different solutions.
Additionally, the effect of solution temperature on the acid dissociation at the surface is explored.