Charge separation and isolation in strong water droplet impacts

• Verfasst von: Wiederschein, Frank [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Vöhringer-Martinez, E. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Beinsen, A. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Postberg, Frank [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Schmidt, J. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Srama, R. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Stolz, F. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Grubmüller, H. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Abel, B. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Charge separation and isolation in strong water droplet impacts
• Verf.angabe: F. Wiederschein, E. Vöhringer-Martinez, A. Beinsen, F. Postberg, J. Schmidt, R. Srama, F. Stolz, H. Grubmüller and B. Abel
• E-Jahr: 2015
• Jahr: 2 February 2015
• Umfang: 7 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 01.07.2020
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Physical chemistry, chemical physics
• Ort Quelle: Cambridge : RSC Publ., 1999
• Jahr Quelle: 2015
• Band/Heft Quelle: 17(2015), 10, Seite 6858-6864
• ISSN Quelle: 1463-9084
• DOI: doi:10.1039/C4CP05618C
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1703090381

Abstract

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.