Mean Inner Potential of Liquid Water

Improving our experimental and theoretical knowledge of electric potentials at liquid-solid boundaries is essential to achieve a deeper understanding of the driving forces behind interfacial processes. Electron holography has proved successful in probing solid-solid interfaces but requires knowledge of the materials’ mean inner potential (MIP, V0), which is a fundamental bulk material property.

Combining off-axis electron holography with liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (LPTEM), we provide the first quantitative MIP determination of liquid water V0 ¼ þ4.48 0.19 V. This value is larger than most theoretical predictions, and to explain the disagreement we assess the dominant factors needed in quantum simulations of liquid water.

A precise MIP lays the foundations for nanoscale holographic potential measurements in liquids, and provides a benchmark to improve quantum mechanical descriptions of aqueous systems and their interfaces in, e.g., electrochemistry, solvation processes, and spectroscopy.