Identification of a quasi-liquid phase at solid-liquid interface.

An understanding of solid-liquid interfaces is of great importance for fundamental research as well as industrial applications. However, it has been very challenging to directly image solid-liquid interfaces with high resolution, thus their structure and properties are often unknown. Here, we report a quasi-liquid phase between metal (In, Sn) nanoparticle surfaces and an aqueous solution observed using liquid cell transmission electron microscopy. Our real-time high-resolution imaging reveals a thin layer of liquid-like materials at the interfaces with the frequent appearance of small In nanoclusters. Such a quasi-liquid phase serves as an intermediate for the mass transport from the metal nanoparticle to the liquid. Density functional theory-molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that the positive charges of In ions greatly contribute to the stabilization of the quasi-liquid phase on the metal surface.