近日，中国科学院青岛生物能源与生物过程技术研究所孙晓燕及其课题组揭示了带电的水滴使周围的氧气解离。该研究于2025年3月24日发表于国际一流学术期刊《美国化学会杂志》上。

该课题组人员提出了一个引人注目的发现，证明在带电微滴喷雾的空气-水界面上，无需任何催化剂，氧气可以被激活、解离并随后转化为臭氧阴离子（O₃^-）。利用在线质谱法，该研究组直接检测了微滴中双氧分裂产物O₃^-和H₂O·O₃^-。空气-水界面处的高电场，以及带相反电荷的水微滴之间的微闪电，诱导了负责O-O键劈裂的放电，导致活性氧（ROS）的形成。同位素标记实验进一步揭示了双氧分裂产物与水或CO₂反应可产生多种ROS，即·OH、CO₃^-和HCO₄^-。本研究介绍了一种可持续的分子氧利用途径，并为微滴中ROS的生成提供了新的见解。

据介绍，将氧气（O₂）分解成其原子成分通常需要苛刻的条件和金属催化剂。

附：英文原文

Title: Charged Water Microdroplets Enable Dissociation of Surrounding Dioxygen

Author: Jian Zhou, Qing Wang, Gongkui Cheng, Wei Shen, Richard N. Zare, Xiaoyan Sun

Issue&Volume: March 24, 2025

Abstract: The cleavage of dioxygen (O2) into its atomic constituents typically requires harsh conditions and metal catalysts. We present a remarkable discovery demonstrating that dioxygen can be activated, dissociated, and subsequently transformed into the ozone anion (O3–) without any catalyst at the air–water interface in charged microdroplet sprays. Using online mass spectrometry, we directly detected the dioxygen splitting products O3– and H2O·O3– in microdroplets. The high electric field at the air–water interface, along with microlightning between oppositely charged water microdroplets, induces an electrical discharge responsible for the O–O bond cleavage, leading to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Isotope labeling experiments further reveal that various ROS, i.e., ·OH, CO3–, and HCO4–, can be generated through the reaction of dioxygen splitting products with water or CO2. This study introduces a sustainable pathway for molecular oxygen utilization and offers new insights into ROS generation in microdroplets.

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c12740

Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.4c12740