Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Professor John C. Hemminger and collaborators at the Berlin synchrotron BESSY have used liquid-jet techniques to obtain the x-ray photoelectron spectra of aqueous solutions of nitrate and nitrite salts. Their experiments are published as a communication in JACS. The XPS experiments allow the determination of the nitrate and nitrite concentrations at the liquid/vapor surface and as a function of depth into the aqueous solution. Their results show that both nitrate and nitrite have a preference for bulk solvation in contrast to the surface. Their results compare well with MD simulations.