Acid ions are more than spectators
Thursday, August 7, 2014 - 09:39
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) —X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Advanced Photon Source, coupled with state-of-the-art density functional theory (DFT) simulations reveal that strong acids, such as hydrochloric acid, form counter-ion pairs in solution across all concentration, a result that had not been seen in gas-phase studies. The discovery suggests that it is not simply the release of protons—hydrogen ions—that is important for the properties of acids.