Are SAXS and SANS suitable to extract information on the role of water for electric-double-layer formation at the carbon-aqueous-electrolyte interface?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Authors

Organisational units

External Organisational units

  • Institut Laue-Langevin
  • Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
  • Photon Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg,

Abstract

This study reports on the applicability of X-ray transmission (XRT), small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) for investigating fundamental processes taking place in the working electrode of an electric double-layer capacitor with 1M RbBr aqueous electrolyte at different applied potentials. XRT and incoherent neutron scattering are employed to determine global ion- and water concentration changes and associated charge-balancing mechanisms. We showcase the suitability of SAXS and SANS to get complementary information on local ion and solvent rearrangement in nanoconfinement, respectively, but also underscore the limitations of simple qualitative models, asking for more quantitative descriptions of water-water and ion-water interactions via detailed atomistic modelling approaches.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)363-380
Number of pages18
JournalFaraday Discussions
Volume2024
Issue number249
Early online date16 Aug 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Aug 2023