Water structure and electric fields at the interface of oil droplets

Lixue Shi (), R. Allen LaCour, Naixin Qian, Joseph P. Heindel, Xiaoqi Lang, Ruoqi Zhao, Teresa Head-Gordon () and Wei Min ()
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Lixue Shi: Columbia University
R. Allen LaCour: University of California
Naixin Qian: Columbia University
Joseph P. Heindel: University of California
Xiaoqi Lang: Columbia University
Ruoqi Zhao: University of California
Teresa Head-Gordon: University of California
Wei Min: Columbia University

Nature, 2025, vol. 640, issue 8057, 87-93

Abstract: Abstract Interfacial water exhibits rich and complex behaviour1, playing an important part in chemistry, biology, geology and engineering. However, there is still much debate on the fundamental properties of water at hydrophobic interfaces, such as orientational ordering, the concentration of hydronium and hydroxide, improper hydrogen bonds and the presence of large electric fields2–5. This controversy arises from the challenges in measuring interfacial systems, even with the most advanced experimental techniques and theoretical approaches available. Here we report on an in-solution, interface-selective Raman spectroscopy method using multivariate curve resolution6,7 to probe hexadecane-in-water emulsions, aided by a monomer-field theoretical model for Raman spectroscopy8. Our results indicate that oil–water emulsion interfaces can exhibit reduced tetrahedral order and weaker hydrogen bonding, along with a substantial population of free hydroxyl groups that experience about 95 cm−1 redshift in their stretching mode compared with planar oil–water interfaces. Given the known electrostatic zeta potential characteristic of oil droplets9, we propose the existence of a strong electric field (about 50–90 MV cm−1) emanating from the oil phase. This field is inferred indirectly but supported by control experiments and theoretical estimates. These observations are either absent or opposite in the molecular hydrophobic interface formed by small solutes or at planar oil–water interfaces. Instead, water structural disorder and enhanced electric fields emerge as unique features of the mesoscale interface in oil–water emulsions, potentially contributing to the accelerated chemical reactivity observed at hydrophobic–water interfaces10–13.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08702-y

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