Adhesion and recombination in the plasma of a discharge excited by the electron-beam method

Glotov, E. P.; Danilychev, V. A.; Kholin, I V

doi:10.1007/bf01120842

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…The increased nebulizing gas flow improves water atomization and the speed of microdroplets in the air, subsequently impacting the triboelectric charging of microdroplets by liberating electrons from gas to the droplet. Surprisingly, on increasing the droplet traveling distance d (Figure a), the microdroplet current decreased (Figure S23), indicating the charge recombination by further reaction of droplets with surrounding gases, producing nitrogen oxides (Figure ). − This overall reduction of the negative charge in microdroplets after traveling a long distance could also be contributed by the aerodynamic breakup of large droplets via the bag mechanism …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Microdroplets in Air: A Hitherto Unnoticed Natural Source of Nitrogen Oxides

Kumar,

Avadhani,

Nandy

et al. 2024

Anal. Chem.

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Water microdroplets are widespread in the atmosphere. We report a striking observation that micron-sized water droplets obtained from zero-volt spray sources (sonic spray, humidifier, spray bottle, steamer, etc.) spontaneously generate nitrogen oxides. The mechanistic investigation through the development of custom-designed sampling sources combined with mass spectrometry and isotope labeling experiments confirmed that air nitrogen reacts with the water at the air–water interface, fixing molecular nitrogen to its oxides (NO, NO2, and N2O) and acids (HNO2 and HNO3) at trace levels without any catalyst. These reactions are attributed to the consequence of an experimentally detected feeble corona discharge (breakdown of air) at the air–water interface, likely driven by the high intrinsic electric field at the surface of water microdroplets. The extent of this corona discharge effect varies depending on the pH, salinity/impurity, size, speed, and lifetime of microdroplets in the air. Thus, this study discloses that the air–water interface of microdroplets breaks the strong chemical bond of nitrogen (N2), producing nitrogen oxides in the environment, while lightning strikes and microbial processes in soil are considered their dominant natural sources. As nitrogen oxides are toxic air pollutants, their spontaneous formation at the air–water interface should have important implications in atmospheric reactions, requiring further investigations.

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