Anomalously low dielectric constant of confined water

The dielectric constant ε of interfacial water has been predicted to be smaller than that of bulk water (ε ≈ 80) because the rotational freedom of water dipoles is expected to decrease near surfaces, yet experimental evidence is lacking. We report local capacitance measurements for water confined be...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fumagalli, Laura, 1959-, Esfandiar, Ali, Fabregas, Rene, Hu, S., Ares, Pablo, Janardanan, Amritha, Yang, Q., Radha, Boya, Taniguchi, Takashi, Watanabe, K., Gomila Lluch, Gabriel, Novoselov, K. S., Geim, A. K.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/135640
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/135640
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Constants físiques
Química de l'aigua
Physical constants
Water chemistry
Descripción
Sumario:The dielectric constant ε of interfacial water has been predicted to be smaller than that of bulk water (ε ≈ 80) because the rotational freedom of water dipoles is expected to decrease near surfaces, yet experimental evidence is lacking. We report local capacitance measurements for water confined between two atomically flat walls separated by various distances down to 1 nanometer. Our experiments reveal the presence of an interfacial layer with vanishingly small polarization such that its out-of-plane ε is only ~2. The electrically dead layer is found to be two to three molecules thick. These results provide much-needed feedback for theories describing water-mediated surface interactions and the behavior of interfacial water, and show a way to investigate the dielectric properties of other fluids and solids under extreme confinement.