Comparative Adsorption of Acetone on Water and Ice Surfaces

Small organic molecules on ice and water surfaces are ubiquitous in nature and play a crucial role in many environmentally relevant processes. Herein, we combine surface-specific vibrational spectroscopy and a controllable flow cell apparatus to investigate the molecular adsorption of acetone onto the basal plane of single-crystalline hexagonal ice with a large surface area. By comparing the adsorption of acetone on the ice/air and the water/air interface, we observed two different types of acetone adsorption, as apparent from the different responses of both the free O−H and the hydrogen-bonded network vibrations for ice and liquid water. Adsorption on ice occurs preferentially through interactions with the free OH group, while the interaction of acetone with the surface of liquid water appears less specific.