Delayed luminescence induced by complex domains in water and in TEOS aqueous solutions
C. Colleoni,S. Esposito,R. Grasso,D. Romeli,G. Rosace
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics Pub Date : 11/19/2015 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C5CP03420E
Abstract

Many recent studies on water have conjectured a complex structure composed of hydrogen bonded low- and high-density domains. In this work the structure of pure water and aqueous solutions of silica gel (TEOS) has been investigated by using delayed luminescence, which has previously shown a significant increase in aqueous salt solutions where low-density domain formation is expected. Photon emission shows an Arrhenius trend with an activation energy in water–TEOS solutions larger than in pure water and salt-water solutions. Moreover, delayed photon emission decay shows an intrinsic lifetime of about 5 μs both in solutions and in pure water that, along with secondary lifetimes induced by the presence of TEOS, could be related to the formation of different domains.

Graphical abstract: Delayed luminescence induced by complex domains in water and in TEOS aqueous solutions