Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 15051, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Dec 18;103(25):257802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.257802. Epub 2009 Dec 17.
Availability of highly reactive halogen ions at the surface of aerosols has tremendous implications for the atmospheric chemistry. Yet neither simulations, experiments, nor existing theories are able to provide a fully consistent description of the electrolyte-air interface. In this Letter a new theory is proposed which allows us to explicitly calculate the ionic density profiles, the surface tension, and the electrostatic potential difference across the solution-air interface. Predictions of the theory are compared to experiments and are found to be in excellent agreement. The theory also sheds new light on one of the oldest puzzles of physical chemistry--the Hofmeister effect.
气溶胶表面高反应性卤素离子的存在对大气化学具有重大意义。然而，模拟、实验和现有理论都无法对电解质-空气界面提供完全一致的描述。在这封信件中，提出了一种新的理论，该理论允许我们明确计算离子密度分布、表面张力和溶液-空气界面之间的静电位差。该理论的预测与实验进行了比较，发现两者非常吻合。该理论还为物理化学中最古老的难题之一——Hofmeister 效应提供了新的认识。
