Conjecture on electron trapping in liquid water

From the available experimental and theoretical evidence it appears reasonably certain that electron thermalization precedes trapping in liquid water. The vast majority of prospective trapping sites do not actually bind an electron permanently due to insufficient attractive “strength”, but scatter the thermalized electron after going through a state of temporary negative ion formation. Trapping probably occurs efficiently over a relatively narrow range of trapping potentials just sufficient to bind the electron. The 10-13 s time scale appears to be very important in liquid water, being dominated by energy loss of epithermal electrons, trapping and eventual solvation.