Charge separation and isolation in strong water droplet impacts
Charge separation in condensed matter after strong impacts is a general and intriguing phenomenon in nature, which is often identified and described but not necessarily well understood in terms of a quantitative mechanistic picture. Here we show that charge separation naturally occurs if water dropl...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2 February 2015
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| In: |
Physical chemistry, chemical physics
Year: 2015, Volume: 17, Issue: 10, Pages: 6858-6864 |
| ISSN: | 1463-9084 |
| DOI: | 10.1039/C4CP05618C |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1039/C4CP05618C Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/cp/c4cp05618c 
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| Author Notes: | F. Wiederschein, E. Vöhringer-Martinez, A. Beinsen, F. Postberg, J. Schmidt, R. Srama, F. Stolz, H. Grubmüller and B. Abel |
| Summary: | Charge separation in condensed matter after strong impacts is a general and intriguing phenomenon in nature, which is often identified and described but not necessarily well understood in terms of a quantitative mechanistic picture. Here we show that charge separation naturally occurs if water droplets/clusters or ice particles with embedded charge carriers, e.g., ions, encounter a high energy impact with subsequent dispersion - even if the involved kinetic energy is significantly below the molecular ionization energy. We find that for low charge carrier concentrations (c < 0.01 mol L−1) a simple statistical Poisson model describes the charge distribution in the resulting molecular “fragments” or aggregates. At higher concentrations Coulomb interactions between the charge carriers become relevant, which we describe by a Monte Carlo approach. Our models are compared to experimental data for strong (laser) impacts on liquid micro beams and discussed for the charge generation in cluster-impact mass spectrometry on cosmic dust detectors where particle kinetic energies are below the plasma threshold. Taken together, a simple and intuitive but quantitative microscopic model is obtained, which may contribute to the understanding of a larger range of phenomena related to charge generation and separation in nature. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 01.07.2020 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1463-9084 |
| DOI: | 10.1039/C4CP05618C |