Orientation and Motion of Water Molecules at Air/Water Interface

Here we report a quantitative study of the orientational structure and motion of water molecule at the air/water interface. Analysis of Sum Frequency Generation (SFG) vibrational peak of the free O-H stretching band at 3700 cm-1 in four experimental configurations showed that orientational motion of water molecule at air/water interface is libratory within a limited angular range. The free OH bond of the interfacial water molecule is tilted around 33° from the interface normal and the orientational distribution or motion width is less than 15°. This picture is significantly different from the previous conclusion that the interfacial water molecule orientation varies over a broad range within the ultrafast vibrational relaxation time, the only direct experimental study concluded for ultrafast and broad orientational motion of a liquid interface by Wei et al.(Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4799, (2001)) using single SFG experimental configuration.