Liquid flow along a solid surface reversibly alters interfacial chemistry

Abstract

Monitoring water interfaces in motion Water behaves differently at interfaces—where it meets the air, or a solid surface—than it does in the middle of the liquid. Past laboratory studies of this phenomenon have mainly focused on still samples, despite the fact that in natural settings such as rivers and rain, the water moves along the surfaces. Lis et al. used a microfluidics apparatus and a spectroscopy technique called sum frequency generation to study the effects of flow on aqueous chemistry at silica and fluorite surfaces (see the Perspective by Waychunas). The flow of fresh water along the surfaces disrupts the equilibrium of dissolved ions, substantially changing the surface charge and the molecular orientation of the water at the interface. Science , this issue p. 1138 ; see also p. 1094