Ultrafast Probing of Oxide-Liquid Interface

• Applicant: Dr. Ahmed Ghalgaoui
• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry ; Experimental Condensed Matter Physics ; Solid State and Surface Chemistry, Material Synthesis
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 551132371

The interaction between water and oxide surfaces plays an important role in many technological applications and environmental processes. Surface science studies provided microscopic details from surfaces in vacuum environment and electrochemists followed up to show that similar details might be obtained from electrode-electrolyte interfaces. However, gaining fundamental understanding of processes at oxide-water interfaces is challenging because of the complexity of the systems. With this project, we take a step further toward a microscopic understanding of the relationship between structure and chemistry of oxide-solution interfaces by studying the elementary steps of the photochemical reactions at water/oxide interfaces. We will study the properties of water at the oxide-aqueous solution interface and its dependence on pH. By using the state-of-the-art techniques of femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy, I will investigate the real-time carrier dynamics and photochemical reaction at the water/TiO2 interfaces, and aim to provide unprecedented details of the reaction dynamics, which is crucial for the understanding of the relevant photocatalysis mechanism.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants