The hydration of electrons is important for aqueous solutions. I want to study the micro-structure of water around electrons by Raman spectroscopy, but I do not know how to prepare the electron/water solution. Can I eject electrons from electron gun to liquid water? Anybody have experience producing the solutions? Or anybody has an idea?
Using an electron gun would be very difficult since this normally needs to be done in vacuum in which case the water will boil. Maybe you could use a strong beta emitter (such as strontium-90) and insert this into the water.
Hi,
You are right: There will be some degree of radiolysis. See for instance also the article "Self radiolysis of tritiated water", by T. Stolz et al., Fusion Engineering and Design 69 (2003) 57-60. The Yield of molecules such as O2 or H2 is usually expressed as a number of molecules per eV deposited and could be in the range of 0.2 to 1 molecule/100 eV. The amount of radiolysis will depend on the intensity of your radioactive source and on the energy of the betas emitted.So you can adjust the degree of radiolysis by choosing an appropriate source strength and/or by reducing the energy of the betas by adding a thin absorption layer on the outside of your source.
I have no experience with the type of measurements you want to perform, so I' can not judge whether this will be useful for you.
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