Call For Papers: Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Charged Interfaces

Interfaces are intrinsically apt to be charged, and charged interfaces are critically important for driving physical and chemical processes relevant to energy, biology, atmospheric and geochemistry, separation technologies, and catalysis. They pose a number of intriguing phenomena to be elucidated in microscopic details. Nonlinear spectroscopy offers unique, valuable information on these interfaces that is often hard to obtain by other means.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, and The Journal of Physical Chemistry C are accepting submissions for a topical Special Issue on “Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Charged Interfaces.” Of interest are solid, liquid, and gaseous interfaces, be they macroscopically flat or curved, or microscopic in nature such as colloids, nanoparticles, or aerosols.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy
• Second and third harmonic generation spectroscopy
• Microscopic imaging versions of these approaches
• Development of new techniques of nonlinear spectroscopy
• Comparison of linear and nonlinear spectroscopy
• Application of spectroscopy to various interfaces, such as electrolyte solutions, lipid membranes, electrodes, minerals, colloids, nanoparticles, aerosols, etc.
• Theory and simulation to interpret the spectra

Organizing Editors

Franz Geiger, Executive Editor, The Journal of Physical Chemistry
Northwestern University, United States

Hongfei Wang, Guest Editor
Westlake University, China

Sylvie Roke, Guest Editor
EPFL, Switzerland

Akihiro Morita, Guest Editor
Tohoku University, Japan

Submission Information

We welcome submissions for this Special Issue through May 31, 2026. For more information on submission requirements, please visit the journal’s Author Guidelines page.

Papers accepted for publication for this Special Issue will be available ASAP (as soon as publishable) online. After all submissions have been published, they will then be compiled online on a dedicated landing page to form the Special Issue. Manuscripts submitted for consideration will undergo the full rigorous peer review process expected from ACS journals.

All submissions to The Journal of Physical Chemistry will be handled by JPC Senior Editors and peer-reviewed with the same standards and expectations applied to all other manuscripts submitted to the journal. To ensure an unbiased peer-review process, the journal asks that you:

• Do not indicate within your manuscript that the submission is intended for the Special Issue. If you do, your manuscript will be returned for correction.
• Instead, when you submit your manuscript, please state prominently in the cover letter for the submission that the paper is intended for “Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Charged Interfaces.” You can find a complete list of sections and other important information for authors in the The Journal of Physical Chemistry Author Guidelines.

As with all submissions to JPC, your manuscript for the Special Issue should represent a rigorous scientific report of original research. Manuscripts are expected to provide new physical insight and/or present new theoretical or computational methods of broad interest.

Open Access: There are diverse open access options for publications in American Chemical Society journals. Please visit our Open Science Resource Center for more information.

How to Submit

• Log in to the ACS Publishing Center.
• Select the "Journals" tab.
• Choose Choose The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, B or C.
• Click "Submit."
• Reminder: Please indicate in your cover letter only that you wish to be included in the "Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Charged Interfaces” Special Issue.

If you are unsure if your research is within the scope of this special issue or have other questions about submitting a manuscript to the journal please email JPC C Deputy Editor Greg Hartland’s office at hartland-office@jpc.acs.org.

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