You CANNOT have an aqueous solution where only positive, or only negative, ions exist. The laws of physics will NEVER allow that to happen. Also, the idea about the "gas phase" will not work since you would need to boil the metal in order to get its ion in a gas phase, and at that temperature liquid water does not exist. You will just have to realize that you cannot isolate a positive ion without having a negative ion present to balance the charge.