Anomalous formation of trihydrogen cations from water on nanoparticles

M Said Alghabra,Boris Bergues,Philipp Rosenberger,Vyacheslav Kim,Ali S Alnaser,Philipp Rupp,Mazhar Iqbal,Rami Ali,Sambit Mitra,Ritika Dagar,Deepak Mathur,Matthias F Kling

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-24175-9

Abstract

Regarded as the most important ion in interstellar chemistry, the trihydrogen cation, {{rm{H}}}_{{{3}}}^{+}, plays a vital role in the formation of water and many complex organic molecules believed to be responsible for life in our universe. Apart from traditional plasma discharges, recent laboratory studies have focused on forming the trihydrogen cation from large organic molecules during their interactions with intense radiation and charged particles. In contrast, we present results on forming {{rm{H}}}_{{{3}}}^{+} from bimolecular reactions that involve only an inorganic molecule, namely water, without the presence of any organic molecules to facilitate its formation. This generation of {{rm{H}}}_{{{3}}}^{+} is enabled by “engineering” a suitable reaction environment comprising water-covered silica nanoparticles exposed to intense, femtosecond laser pulses. Similar, naturally-occurring, environments might exist in astrophysical settings where hydrated nanometer-sized dust particles are impacted by cosmic rays of charged particles or solar wind ions. Our results are a clear manifestation of how aerosolized nanoparticles in intense femtosecond laser fields can serve as a catalysts that enable exotic molecular entities to be produced via non-traditional routes.

Highlights

Regarded as the most important ion in interstellar chemistry, the trihydrogen cation, Hþ3, plays a vital role in the formation of water and many complex organic molecules believed to be responsible for life in our universe
As it behaves like a Brønsted–Lowry acid[4], the trihydrogen cation protonates interstellar ions, atoms, and molecules acting as the critically important precursor in the formation of complex organic compounds, which are believed to play a vital role in the creation of life in the universe[5,6]
At variance with all previous studies, in this work, we investigate the formation of the trihydrogen cation from inorganic molecules in a bimolecular mechanism encompassing two H2O molecules adsorbed on the surfaces of silica nanoparticles in an intense femtosecond laser field

Summary

Introduction

Regarded as the most important ion in interstellar chemistry, the trihydrogen cation, Hþ3 , plays a vital role in the formation of water and many complex organic molecules believed to be responsible for life in our universe. Experiments investigating the formation of Hþ3 from charged ion organic compounds (HCI) collisions[9,10], using electron impact[7,8], highly and intense laser fields[11,12,13,14,15] are well documented in the literature In these studies, usually a single organic molecule undergoes bond cleavage and bond formation in a two-step chemical process resulting in the creation of the trihydrogen cation. We present results that unravel complex and unique molecular dynamics carried by water/heavy water molecules adsorbed on the surfaces of SiO2 nanoparticles to form Hþ3 =Dþ3 ions This bimolecular photochemical reaction, which involves proton/deuteron migration as well as bond cleavage and bond formation, is shown to lead to the formation of Hþ3 =Dþ3 from two water/heavy water molecules. Our results offer unambiguous demonstration of yet another characteristic of nanoparticles as catalysts for exotic chemical reactions in intense femtosecond laser fields

Methods

Results

Conclusion