Analytical Sciences

Soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy of Liquids for Understanding Chemical Processes in Solution

Masanari NAGASAKA,*,** Hayato YUZAWA,* and Nobuhiro KOSUGI*,**

*Institute for Molecular Science, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
**SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan

Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) involving excitation processes of a core electron to unoccupied states is an effective method to study local structures around excited C, N, and O atoms in liquid samples. Since soft X-rays are strongly absorbed by air and liquid itself, we have developed transmission-type liquid flow cells, where the absorbance of liquid samples can be easily reduced and optimized by controlling the liquid thickness. By using the transmission-mode XAS techniques, we have investigated local structures of several liquid samples such as concentration dependence of aqueous pyridine solutions and unexpected temperature-dependent structural changes in liquid benzene from the precise energy shift measurements in XAS spectra with the help of molecular dynamics simulation and inner-shell calculations. These XAS techniques are also applied to in situ/operando observation of chemical processes in solutions such as catalytic and electrochemical reactions.

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