Flatjet

[Mariela Laflam]

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We demonstrate liquid-jet photoelectron spectroscopy from a flatjet formed by the impingement of two micron-sized cylindrical jets of different aqueous solutions. Flatjets provide flexible experimental templates enabling unique liquid-phase experiments that would not be possible using single cylindrical liquid jets. One such possibility is to generate two co-flowing liquid-jet sheets with a common interface in vacuum, with each surface facing the vacuum being representative of one of the solutions, allowing face-sensitive detection by photoelectron spectroscopy. The impingement of two cylindrical jets also enables the application of different bias potentials to each jet with the principal possibility to generate a potential gradient between the two solution phases. This is shown for the case of a flatjet composed of a sodium iodide aqueous solution and neat liquid water. The implications of asymmetric biasing for flatjet photoelectron spectroscopy are discussed. The first photoemission spectra for a sandwich-type flatjet comprised of a water layer encapsulated by two outer layers of an organic solvent (toluene) are also shown.

A team of researchers from the Department of Molecular Physics at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society developed a method to extend photoelectron spectroscopy to liquid flatjets created by the impingement of two cylindrical jets. The thin, planar surface of these flatjets opens new experimental possibilities.

While flatjets themselves are not novel, applying photoelectron spectroscopy to them is. This technique allows researchers to study the evolution of the chemical reactions and associated electronic structure changes occurring between the impinging solutions as they make contact and travel through the vacuum.

Probing both sides of the flatjet, the authors found that these two solutions never fully mixed and instead formed a stable liquid-liquid interface. X-ray emission spectroscopy can readily access this interface, but photoelectron spectroscopy will require thinner flatjets.

Liquid flatjet (solvated urea) illuminated by a broadband soft X-ray pulse obtained by high-order harmonic generation. The insets show the steady-state absorption of Urea at the C and N K-edges extracted from the measurements.

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