Abstract
Fluid/solid interfaces containing single-layer graphene are important in the areas of chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science, yet this environment is difficult to access with experimental methods, especially under flow conditions and in a label-free manner. Herein, we demonstrate the use of second harmonic generation to quantify the interfacial free energy at the fused silica/single-layer graphene/water interface at pH 7 and under conditions of flowing aqueous electrolyte solutions ranging in NaCl concentrations from 10-4 to 10-1 M. Our analysis reveals that single-layer graphene reduces the interfacial free energy density of the fused silica/water interface by a factor of up to 7, which is substantial given that many interfacial processes, including those that are electrochemical in nature, are exponentially sensitive to interfacial free energy density.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 979-981 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Journal of the American Chemical Society |
Volume | 135 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 23 2013 |