Sprayed Water Microdroplets Are Able to Generate HydrogenPeroxide Spontaneously

Ultrapure N2gas was bubbled through water, and the humidified output containing undetectable concentrations ofozonefilled a closed chamber in which 18 M Omega-cm water was sprayed through a silica capillary to form microdroplets. Analysis of thecollected microdroplets by NMR spectroscopy showed the presence of hydrogen peroxide at a concentration level ranging from 0.3to 1.5 mu M depending on theflow conditions. This was confirmed using a spectrofluorometric assay. We suggest that thisfindingestablishes that when sprayed to form microdroplets, water has the ability to produce hydrogen peroxide by itself. When the N2gas isreplaced by compressed air or O2gas, the concentration of hydrogen peroxide is found to increase, indicating that gas-surfaceinteractions with O2in aqueous microdroplets promote the formation of hydrogen peroxide

Automated summary

Water has the ability to produce hydrogen peroxide when sprayed to form microdroplets, and gas-surface interactions increase the concentration of hydrogen peroxide.