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Non-local X-ray intermolecular radiative decay probes solvation shell of ions in water

  • Johan Söderström*
  • , Lucas M. Cornetta
  • , Victor Ekholm
  • , Vincenzo Carravetta
  • , Arnaldo Naves de Brito
  • , Ricardo Marinho
  • , Marcus Agåker
  • , Takashi Tokushima
  • , Conny Såthe
  • , Anirudha Ghosh
  • , Dana Bloß
  • , Andreas Hans
  • , Florian Trinter
  • , Iyas Ismail
  • , Debora Vasconcelos
  • , Joel Pinheiro
  • , Yi Ping Chang
  • , Manuel Harder
  • , Zhong Yin
  • , Joseph Nordgren
  • Gunnar Öhrwall, Hans Ågren, Jan Erik Rubensson, Olle Björneholm*
*Corresponding author for this work
  • Uppsala University
  • Universidade de São Paulo
  • Lund University
  • National Research Council of Italy
  • Universidade Estadual de Campinas
  • Universidade de Brasília
  • Universidade Federal da Bahia
  • University of Kassel
  • Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
  • Sorbonne Université
  • European XFEL
  • Tohoku University
  • Wrocław University of Science and Technology

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Aqueous solutions are crucial in chemistry, biology, environmental science, and technology. The chemistry of solutes is influenced by the surrounding solvation shell of water molecules, which have different chemical properties than bulk water due to their different electronic and geometric structure. It is experimentally challenging to selectively investigate this property-determining electronic and geometric structure. Here, we report experimental results on the non-local X-ray emission process Intermolecular Radiative Decay, for the prototypical ions Na+ and Mg2+ in water. We show that, in Intermolecular Radiative Decay, an electron from the solvation shell fills a core hole in the solute, and the released energy is emitted as an X-ray photon. We interpret the underlying mechanism using theoretical calculations, and show how Intermolecular Radiative Decay will allow us to meet the challenge of selectively probing the solvation shell from within.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10046
JournalNature Communications
Volume16
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2025
Externally publishedYes

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