Monovalent counterion distributions at highly charged water interfaces: Proton-transfer and Poisson-Boltzmann theory

Surface sensitive synchrotron-x-ray scattering studies reveal the distributions of monovalent ions next to highly charged interfaces. A lipid phosphate (dihexadecyl hydrogen phosphate) was spread as a monolayer at the air-water interface, containing CsI at various concentrations. Using anomalous reflectivity off and at the L-3 Cs+ resonance, we provide spatial counterion distributions (Cs+) next to the negatively charged interface over a wide range of ionic concentrations. We argue that at low salt concentrations and for pure water the enhanced concentration of hydroniums H3O+ at the interface leads to proton transfer back to the phosphate group by a high contact potential, whereas high salt concentrations lower the contact potential resulting in proton release and increased surface charge density. The experimental ionic distributions are in excellent agreement with a renormalized-surface-charge Poisson-Boltzmann theory without fitting parameters or additional assumptions.