IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v6y2015i1d10.1038_ncomms8248.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The solvation of electrons by an atmospheric-pressure plasma

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Rumbach

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • David M. Bartels

    (Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory, University of Notre Dame)

  • R. Mohan Sankaran

    (Case Western Reserve University)

  • David B. Go

    (University of Notre Dame
    University of Notre Dame)

Abstract

Solvated electrons are typically generated by radiolysis or photoionization of solutes. While plasmas containing free electrons have been brought into contact with liquids in studies dating back centuries, there has been little evidence that electrons are solvated by this approach. Here we report direct measurements of solvated electrons generated by an atmospheric-pressure plasma in contact with the surface of an aqueous solution. The electrons are measured by their optical absorbance using a total internal reflection geometry. The measured absorption spectrum is unexpectedly blue shifted, which is potentially due to the intense electric field in the interfacial Debye layer. We estimate an average penetration depth of 2.5±1.0 nm, indicating that the electrons fully solvate before reacting through second-order recombination. Reactions with various electron scavengers including H+, NO2−, NO3− and H2O2 show that the kinetics are similar, but not identical, to those for solvated electrons formed in bulk water by radiolysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Rumbach & David M. Bartels & R. Mohan Sankaran & David B. Go, 2015. "The solvation of electrons by an atmospheric-pressure plasma," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-7, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8248
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8248
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8248
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms8248?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Caleb J. C. Jordan & Marc P. Coons & John M. Herbert & Jan R. R. Verlet, 2024. "Spectroscopy and dynamics of the hydrated electron at the water/air interface," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8248. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.