Chemists discover water microdroplets spontaneously produce hydrogen peroxide

Water is everywhere on Earth, but maybe that just gives it more space to hide its secrets. Its latest surprise, Stanford researchers report Aug. 26 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is that microscopic droplets of water spontaneously produce hydrogen peroxide.

The discovery could pave the way for greener ways to produce the molecule, a common bleaching agent and disinfectant, said Richard Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science and a professor of chemistry in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences.
"Water is one of the most commonly found materials, and it's been studied for years and years and you would think that there was nothing more to learn about this molecule. But here's yet another surprise," said Zare, who is also a member of Stanford Bio-X.
The discovery was made serendipitously while Zare and his lab were studying a new, more efficient way to create gold nanostructures in tiny water droplets known as microdroplets. To make those structures, the team added an additional molecule called a reducing agent. As a control test, Zare suggested seeing if they could create gold nanostructures without the reducing agent. Theoretically that should have been impossible, but it worked anyway—hinting at an as yet undiscovered feature of microdroplet chemistry.

Chemists discover water microdroplets spontaneously produce hydrogen peroxide Stanfordchem

Chemists discover water microdroplets spontaneously produce hydrogen peroxide Stanfordchem

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-chemists-microdroplets-spontaneously-hydrogen-peroxide.html

Chemists discover water microdroplets spontaneously produce hydrogen peroxide

Chemists discover water microdroplets spontaneously produce hydrogen peroxide

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