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Bridging interfacial water structure and reactivity in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution at TiO₂ interfaces
Confirmed
In Short: Water droplets can gain an electrical charge as they slide down surfaces, leading to corrosion, according to new research.
Water droplets can charge and corrode surfaces, a new study shows.
Researchers have identified an additional mechanism that had largely escaped attention: the electrical charge carried by water droplets.
This charge can cause mechanical and chemical damage to coatings and structures, leading to their degradation.
The study, published in Science News, reveals that water droplets can gain charge as they slide down common surfaces, including leaves and commercial glass.
This charge can then transfer to materials with the right electrical properties, including metals, causing corrosion.
The effect might be widespread, as water may also pick up charge in clouds, thunderstorms, and waterfalls.
What's confirmed
- Water droplets can charge and corrode surfaces, a new study shows.
- Researchers have identified an additional mechanism that had largely escaped attention: the electrical charge carried by water droplets.
- This charge can cause mechanical and chemical damage to coatings and structures, leading to their degradation.
- The study, published in Science News, reveals that water droplets can gain charge as they slide down common surfaces, including leaves and commercial glass.
- This charge can then transfer to materials with the right electrical properties, including metals, causing corrosion.
- The effect might be widespread, as water may also pick up charge in clouds, thunderstorms, and waterfalls.
What's still developing
- The same basic problem affects far larger structures, including the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, which require extensive repainting to keep their protective coatings in good condition.
- One is mechanical stress, in which repeated contact with water droplets creates friction that slowly erodes a coating or causes pieces of it to peel away.
- The other is chemical damage, especially when the water contains substances such as acids or salts.
- They repeatedly dropped uncharged water droplets onto the Teflon.
- CBS News' Ramy Inocencio said there was hope more survivors could emerge from the tunnel — possibly dozens more — as rescuers heard voices coming from deep inside the structure that the was covered by mud and filled with flood water during last week's catastrophe.
- Both tales are highly engaging, but only one holds any water, according to a provocative new take by geochemist Benjamin Tutolo from the University of Calgary.
- Or a deep-sea vent pumping warm, hydrogen-rich fluid through the ocean floor.
- A different microscopy technique used on a damaged sample revealed that the charged water drops had not only penetrated the Teflon, but reached and corroded the copper.