Experimental methodology of water cluster doping

Abstract

Water is one of the most common molecules in space and is also most valuable substance resource for living activities on earth. Studying water clusters plays an important role in actually utilizing water resources. Meanwhile, water clusters can be used as an ideal water microscopic model, which can expand the development of physical and chemical basic science, for example, it can provide the reference for investigating the size-dependent dissociation properties and interactions between solvents and solutes. On the other hand, the gas-phase mixed acidic water clusters have aroused great interest in recent years. For instance, One has been seeking for the smallest energy structure of pure water clusters and doped acidic molecular water clusters, experimentally and theoretically. In short, doping with foreign molecules or atoms can significantly enlarge the scope of scientific research on water clusters. Currently, there are many approaches to doping water clusters experimentally. This review briefly summarizes these means and compares the characteristics of various doping methods to help researchers to apply water cluster doping experiments more effectively.