Operando X-ray characterization of interfacial charge transfer and structural rearrangements

TL;DR

This paper reviews advanced X-ray techniques for real-time analysis of dynamic solid-liquid interfaces crucial for energy, sensing, and chemical applications, emphasizing their ability to reveal atomic and electronic changes during operation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of operando X-ray methods like absorption spectroscopy, photoelectron spectroscopy, and diffraction for studying evolving interfaces.

Findings

X-ray techniques can monitor atomic rearrangements during charge transfer.

Operando methods reveal electronic structure changes in real-time.

The approaches enable detailed understanding of interface dynamics.

Abstract

Key technologies in energy conversion and storage, sensing and chemical synthesis rely on a detailed knowledge about charge transfer processes at electrified solid-liquid interfaces. However, these interfaces continuously evolve as a function of applied potentials, ionic concentrations and time. We therefore need to characterize chemical composition, atomic arrangement and electronic structure of both the liquid and the solid side of the interface under operating conditions. In this chapter, we discuss the state-of-the-art X-ray based spectroscopy and diffraction approaches for such 'operando' characterization. We highlight recent examples from literature and demonstrate how X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and surface X-ray diffraction can reveal the required interface-sensitive information.