Related papers: Deep vacancy induced low-density fluxional interfa…
The rutile TiO$_2$ (110) surface reduced by the bridging oxygen vacancy, bridging hydroxyl group or Ti interstitial atom has been investigated by calculating their electronic structures using the density functional theory plus U method. It…
The distribution of ions and their impact on the structure of electrolyte interfaces plays an important role in many applications. Interestingly, recent experimental studies have suggested the preferential accumulation of $SO_4^{2-}$ ions…
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a class of synthetic chemical compounds widely used as coatings to lower surface energies. Yet the microscopic mechanisms of their weak interaction with water and organic compounds remain poorly…
A comprehensive microscopic understanding of ambient liquid water is a major challenge for $ab$ $initio$ simulations as it simultaneously requires an accurate quantum mechanical description of the underlying potential energy surface (PES)…
The $\alpha$ polymorph of V$_2$O$_5$ is one of the few known cathodes capable of reversibly intercalating multivalent ions such as Mg, Ca, Zn and Al, but suffers from sluggish diffusion kinetics. The role of H$_2$O within the electrolyte…
The structure property of non-ideal Si/GaAs heterostructures that were integrated with the ultra-thin oxide (UO) tunneling interfacial layer has been systematically investigated. Si nanomembranes (NMs) were oxidized in different time…
A two-dimensional layer of oxide reveals itself as a essential element to drive the photocatalytic activity in a nanostructured hybrid material, which combines high-quality epitaxial graphene and titanium dioxide nanoparticles. In…
First-principles density functional theory calculations were carried out to determine the low energy geometries of anatase TiO$_2$(001) with Pt implants in the sublayers as substitutional and interstitial impurities as well as on the…
Water at solid surfaces is key for many processes ranging from biological signal transduction to membrane separation and renewable energy conversion. However, under realistic conditions, which often include environmental and surface charge…
In the course of our investigations of the adsorption of ions to the air-water interface, we previously reported the surprising result that doubly-charged carbonate anions exhibit a stronger surface affinity than do singly-charged…
It has been hypothesized that liquid polyamorphism, the existence of multiple amorphous states in a single component substance, may be caused by molecular or supramolecular interconversion. A simple microscopic model [Caupin and Anisimov,…
We briefly review the effects of selective solvation of ions in aqueous mixtures, where the ion densities and the composition fluctuations are strongly coupled. We then examine the surface tension \gamma of a liquid-liquid interface in the…
Traces of water can profoundly alter the dielectric response of functional oxides, yet such effects have remained largely unrecognized in systems where colossal dielectric behaviour has been widely reported. Here, we investigate the impact…
Interfacial adhesion between graphene and a SiO2 substrate is studied by density functional theory (DFT) with dispersion corrections. The results demonstrate the van der Waals (vdW) interaction as the predominate mechanism for the…
Molecular-level insight into interfacial water at buried electrode interfaces is essential in elucidating many phenomena of electrochemistry, but spectroscopic probing of the buried interfaces remains challenging. Here, using…
Anatase is a metastable polymorph of TiO$_2$. In contrast to the more widely-studied TiO$_2$ rutile, O vacancies (V$_\mathrm O$'s) are not stable at the anatase (101) surface. Low-temperature STM shows that surface V$_\mathrm O$'s, created…
Water/solid interfaces are relevant to a broad range of physicochemical phenomena and technological processes such as corrosion, lubrication, heterogeneous catalysis and electrochemistry. Although many fields have contributed to rapid…
Water plays a crucial role in geological, biological, and technological processes. Nanoscale water confinement occurs in many of these settings, including sedimentary rocks, water channel proteins, and applications like desalination and…
Reactions at solid-water interfaces play a foundational role in water treatment systems, catalysis, chemical separations, and in predicting chemical fate and transport in the environment. Over the last century, experimental measurements and…
An intrinsic feature of nearly all internal interfaces in crystalline systems (homo- and hetero-phase) is the presence of disconnections (topological line defects constrained to the interface that have both step and dislocation character).…