Conical shape fluctuations determine the rate of ion-evaporation and the emitted cluster-size distribution from multiple-charged droplets

27 April 2022, Version 2
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

The ion-evaporation mechanism (IEM) is perceived to be a major pathway for disintegration of multi-ion charged droplets found in atmospheric and sprayed aerosols. However, the precise mechanism of IEM and the effect of the nature of the ions in the emitted cluster-size distribution have not yet been established despite its broad use in mass spectrometry and atmospheric chemistry over past half century. Here we present a systematic study of the emitted ion-cluster distribution in relation to their spatial distribution in the parent droplet using atomistic modeling. It is found that in the parent droplet, multiple kosmotropic and weakly polarizable chaotropic ions (Cs+) are buried deeper within the droplet than polarizable chaotropic ions (Cl-, I-). This differentiation in the ion location is only captured by a polarizable model. It is demonstrated that the emitted cluster-size distribution is determined by dynamic conical deformations and not by the equilibrium ion-depth within the parent droplet as the IEM models assume. Critical factors that determine the cluster-size distribution such as the charge sign asymmetry that have not been considered in models and in experiments are presented. We argue that the existing IEM analytical models do not establish a clear difference between IEM and Rayleigh fission. We propose a shift in the existing view for IEM from the equilibrium properties of the parent droplet to the chemistry in the conical shape fluctuations that serve as the centers for ion-emission. Consequently, chemistry in the conical fluctuations may also be a key element to explain charge states of macromolecules in mass spectrometry and may have potential applications in catalysis due to the electric field in the conical region.

Keywords

ion-evaporation mechanism
droplets
ion emission
mass spectrometry
charge sign asymmetry
conical fluctuations
clusters
Rayleigh instability
water-ion interactions
polarizable model
cluster-size distribution
ion-emission mechanism

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Supporting Information
Description
(S1) Details of the computational methods and models. (S2) Radial distribution functions (RDFs) for droplets with multiple ions. (S3) RDFs for droplets with a sole ion. (S4) Charge distribution in droplets with multiple ions. (S5) Charge distribution in droplets with a sole ion. (S6) Typical snapshots of conical fluctuations from the simulations.
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.