Two birds with one stone: artificial thunderstorm water for in situ remediation of pesticide-contaminated soil and promotion of corn growth.

The proverb "thunderstorms herald a good harvest" has long underscored the significance of thunderstorms in traditional agriculture, possibly attributed to reactive ingredients such as hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide radicals, and nitrogen oxide radicals generated during lightning process. In this study, artificial thunderstorm water (ATW) was developed via atmospheric spark discharge, with the objective of achieving scalable production with 2000 μs/cm using 10 L and 60 L water volumes per hour. Taking chlorpyrifos degradation and corn as examples, the prepared ATW was used for promoting soil remediation and enhancing plant growth. The degradation rate of chlorpyrifos in ATW increased with treatment time and ATW acidity, reaching 91.1 % at 7 h and pH 2. After 5 cycles of ATW treatment, the degradation rates of chlorpyrifos in nutritious, ordinary, and ecological soils reached 88.8 %, 69.1 %, and 58.1 %, respectively. Meanwhile, it was also found that ATW can enhance the growth of corn, increasing the plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area by 16.79 %, 44.05 %, and 28.69 %, respectively. Furthermore, the chlorophyll content and catalase activity of corn seedlings were also increased while the content of nitrate nitrogen in the soil increased by 48.88 %, which indirectly proved that ATW might have increased soil fertility. This research provides a cost-effective, clean, scalable, and sustainable technique for agricultural applications.