Issue 45, 2022

Spatial reorganization of analytes in charged aqueous microdroplets

Abstract

Imprinted charged aqueous droplets of micrometer dimensions containing spherical gold and silver nanoparticles, gold nanorods, proteins and simple molecules were visualized using dark-field and transmission electron microscopies. With such studies, we hoped to understand the unusual chemistry exhibited by microdroplets. These droplets with sizes in the range of 1–100 μm were formed using a home-built electrospray source with nitrogen as the nebulization gas. Several remarkable features such as mass/size-selective segregation and spatial localization of solutes in nanometer-thin regions of microdroplets were visualized, along with the formation of micro–nano vacuoles. Electrospray parameters such as distance between the spray tip and surface, voltage and nebulization gas pressure influenced particle distribution within the droplets. We relate these features to unusual phenomena such as the enhancement of rates of chemical reactions in microdroplets.

Graphical abstract: Spatial reorganization of analytes in charged aqueous microdroplets

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
16 Aug 2022
Accepted
11 Oct 2022
First published
11 Oct 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 13321-13329

Spatial reorganization of analytes in charged aqueous microdroplets

P. Basuri, A. Chakraborty, T. Ahuja, B. Mondal, J. S. Kumar and T. Pradeep, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 13321 DOI: 10.1039/D2SC04589C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements