| X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been one of the most widely used analytical tools for surface science. Historically, it is used to characterize solid-phase samples because it requires ultra-high vacuum conditions. Development of instrumentation has allowed the use of XPS to analyze high vapor pressure samples and aqueous solutions. This gives the unique opportunity to study systems relevant to atmospheric or environmental chemistry. The two instrumental breakthroughs for analysis of liquids that were used for experiments in this dissertation are the ambient-pressure XPS at the Advanced Light Source and the liquid micro-jet at the BESSY synchrotron facility, both of which are discussed. The systems of atmospheric and environmental importance discussed here are the following: effect of organics on the ion distribution in potassium iodide aqueous solutions, imidazolium-based ionic liquids, and the dissociation of sulfuric acid. In addition, a newly fabricated liquid-jet setup is described and preliminary results on the anion enhancement in potassium iodide aqueous solutions are given. |
