The researchers also speculate that this newly recognized chemical ability of water could have played a key role in jumpstarting the chemistry for life on Earth billions of years ago, as well as produced our planetвЂ™s first atmospheric oxygen before life emerged. вЂњWeвЂ™ve shown that the process of forming hydrogen peroxide in water droplets is a widespread and surprising phenomenon thatвЂ™s been happening right under our noses,вЂќ said study senior author Richard Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science and a professor of chemistry in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. The surprising discovery could lead to greener methods for disinfecting surfaces or promoting chemical reactions. The new results suggest that waterвЂ™s hydrogen peroxide transformation is a general phenomenon, occurring in fogs, mists, raindrops and wherever else microdroplets form naturally. Now in a new study, the research team has shown the same Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation happens when microdroplets simply condense from the air onto cold surfaces. Stanford scientists first reported this unexpected behavior in forcibly sprayed microdroplets of water last year. In microdroplets of water, just millionths of a meter wide, a portion of the H 2O molecules present can convert into a close chemical cousin, hydrogen peroxide, H 2O 2, a harsh chemical commonly used as a disinfectant and hair bleaching agent. (Image credit: Jae Kyoo Lee and Hyun Soo Han) Photo shows water microdroplet condensate formed on the surface of a glass container containing cold water (left) and an image of water microdroplets formed on a polished silicon surface (right).

Hydrogen peroxide