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Researchers have observed a process in liquid water that releases low-energy electrons after water molecules are ionized. The process, called intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD), helps explain one possible source of electrons relevant to radiation damage—but the experiment did not measure DNA damage or show that ordinary water exposure harms DNA.
What are slow electrons in water?
“Slow electrons” is an informal description of low-energy electrons. In this context, they are produced when water is ionized by high-energy radiation and then relaxes. They are not generated by drinking, touching, or otherwise encountering ordinary water.
Low-energy electrons matter to radiation-damage models because they can interact with biomolecules. That broader relevance is distinct from showing that a particular experiment caused DNA breaks in cells or people.
How can ionized water produce an electron?
The process observed in liquid water is intermolecular Coulombic decay, or ICD. It is non-local: the ionized water molecule transfers energy to a neighboring molecule, which emits the electron.
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- High-energy radiation removes an inner-valence electron from a water molecule, leaving an excited ion.
- The excited ion transfers energy to a nearby water molecule rather than releasing all of that energy within itself.
- The neighboring molecule ejects a low-energy electron. That emitted electron is a signature of ICD.
- In water-rich biological environments, such electrons are relevant to models of radiation damage to biomolecules.
How ICD differs from Auger–Meitner decay
Both processes can release an electron as an ion relaxes, but the energy transfer occurs differently. In Auger–Meitner decay, an electron from the initially ionized molecule fills the vacancy and energy ejects another electron from that same molecule. In ICD, energy travels to a neighboring molecule, which is ionized and ejects the electron. Chemistry World explains the distinction.
What the 2022 liquid-water experiment found
Pengju Zhang, Conaill Perry, Tran Trung Luu, Danylo Matselyukh, and Hans Jakob Wörner reported the first observation of ICD in liquid water in Physical Review Letters 128, 133001, published on 1 April 2022. Their experiment combined a monochromatized tabletop high-harmonic light source with a liquid microjet and recorded electron–electron coincidence spectra at two photon energies. The spectra identified ICD electrons alongside photoelectrons from water’s 2a1 inner-valence band. The paper and its abstract are available from Physical Review Letters.
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The result established that this pathway occurs in bulk liquid water, not only in isolated water molecules or small clusters. The authors said the measurements provide quantitative information that can improve models of the velocity distribution of slow electrons in water.
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A 2025 Nature Communications study compared liquid ordinary water (H2O) with heavy water (D2O) using coincidence measurements and calculations. It found that ICD efficiency is below 1 in both liquids and reported an efficiency ratio of γ(H2O)/γ(D2O) = 0.86 ± 0.03. This ratio applies to that specific comparison; it is not a universal constant. The 2025 study describes the measurements and interpretation.
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The authors interpreted the results as evidence that proton transfer and non-adiabatic relaxation can compete with ICD and close that decay channel. Slower nuclear motion in D2O helps explain its higher ICD efficiency. The follow-up therefore qualifies any claim that ICD is automatic or dominant in every ionized water molecule: it is an important pathway, but other relaxation processes compete with it.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does this mean water causes DNA damage?
No. The 2022 work was a spectroscopy experiment on ionized liquid water, not a DNA-break assay, cell study, clinical trial, or estimate of health risk. It detected an electron-production mechanism relevant to radiation-damage models; it did not establish that the measured electrons broke DNA or caused disease. Chemistry World describes low-energy electrons as capable of damaging biomolecules, but that broader biological context should not be mistaken for a result measured in the liquid-water experiment.
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Understanding how electrons arise and how efficiently they are produced may help researchers model radiation interactions. The suggestion that this knowledge could eventually inform cancer therapy remains speculative: these studies do not demonstrate a treatment or clinical benefit.
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