ION SOLVATION VIA NEUTRON-SCATTERING

The nature of ion solvation has been a central problem in solution science for most of this century. It is argued that neutron scattering has a unique role to play in elucidating in a detailed way the nature of the interaction between ions and the solvents in which they are dissolved. The essential advantage of the neutron method arises from the isotopic dependence of neutron scattering lengths. Thus, by systematically changing the isotopic composition of the solute/solvent, new structural information can be obtained. Examples from a range of systems including Li+, Ni2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, lanthanides, and Cl- will be given.