Surface states at the metal-electrolyte interface

Normal incidence electroreflectance spectra of Ag and Au single crystal electrodes in aqueous electrolytes reveal pronounced structural features, which can be assigned to optical transitions involving empty surface states. The transition energies show a marked dependence on the electrode potential as predicted by the calculation of Ho, Harmon and Liu. It is demonstrated that electroreflectance of metal electrodes in the double layer charging region is a sensitive tool for studying metallic surface states.