Electronic structure of metal-electrolyte surfaces: Three-dimensional calculation

We improve upon a theory presented earlier for the response of a metal-electrolyte surface to applied voltage. The new calculation is three dimensional, using a local-density, repeated-slab model of a jellium surface in contact with a monolayer of a model solvent. The ground state of this system is obtained for a range of jellium-solvent distances and for a range of induced surface charge densities. The results are used to examine the charge dependence of the metal-solvent distance, the distribution of charge induced on the metal, and to extract a rough prediction for the differential capacitance of a metal-electrolyte interface as a function of charge.