Vibrational spectroscopy of water at the vapor/water interface

Abstract

Using infrared-visible sum-frequency generation we have obtained the OH stretch vibrational spectra of water at the vapor/water interface. From the spectra, we deduce that more than 20% of the surface water molecules have one free OH projecting into the vapor. The spectrum is weakly temperature dependent from 10 to 80 °C. A monolayer of fatty alcohol on water surface terminates the free OH groups and induces an icelike structure in the spectrum.