Dynamics of potential-induced structural changes at the Ag(111)/alkaline interface

Abstract

The dynamics of the structural changes in the electrochemical double layer at the interface between a Ag(111) electrode and 0.1 M KOH electrolyte have been probed using surface X-ray diffraction measurements. The X-ray measurements utilised a lock-in amplifier technique to obtain a time resolution down to the millisecond scale. Two potential step regions were explored in an attempt to separate the dynamics of the reversible adsorption/desorption of hydroxide species (OH_ad) and the subsequent cation (K⁺) ordering in the double layer. By probing different positions in reciprocal space, sensitive to different structural changes, the time-dependent response of the electrode surface was probed and time constants for the different associated processes were obtained.