Twist and Stretch: Assignment and Surface Charge Sensitivity of a Water Combination Band and Its Implications for Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectra Interpretations

The vibrational spectrum of water at hydrophobic/hydrophilic interfaces is crucial to understanding complex surface chemistry phenomena. Vibrational sum frequency (VSF) spectroscopy is a valuable nonlinear spectroscopic technique for exploring the details of vibrational spectra of molecules at surfaces. However, spectral assignments and analysis of VSF spectra are often more nuanced than in linear spectroscopy. This study is aimed at understanding the source of the broad VSF signal in the oil-water surface water spectrum at energies slightly higher than traditionally examined, beyond the unbound free OH oscillator of surface water molecules. Analyzing isotopic dilutions of the aqueous solvent with VSF spectroscopy, we demonstrate that this signal is due to a combination band of water stretch and libration motions. The spectral characteristics of this band are found to be highly sensitive to the sign and magnitude of the surface charge induced by adsorption of both anionic and cationic surfactants. The results have implications for VSF measurements of the C-H stretching vibrations of various adsorbates when studied with D2O as the aqueous solvent. Because the vibrational signal from the water combination band is dependent on surface charge, it is imperative to include the presence of the combination band when fitting surface spectra.