Creation of Electron-doping Liquid Water with Reduced Hydrogen Bonds

Abstract

The strength of hydrogen bond (HB) decides water's property and activity. Here we propose the mechanisms on creation and persistence of innovatively prepared liquid water, which is treated by Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) under resonant illumination of green-light emitting diode (LED) to create Au NP-treated (sAuNT) water, with weak HB at room temperature. Hot electron transfer on resonantly illuminated AuNPs, which is confirmed from Au LIII-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra, is responsible for the creation of negatively charged sAuNT water with the incorporated energy-reduced hot electron. This unique electronic feature makes it stable at least for one week. Compared to deionized (DI) water, the resulting sAuNT water exhibits many distinct properties at room temperature. Examples are its higher activity revealed from its higher vapor pressure and lower specific heat. Furthermore, Mpemba effect can be successfully explained by our purposed hypothesis based on sAuNT water-derived idea of water energy and HB.