Hydrothermal Solutions

Solvation Properties of Neutral Gold Species in Supercritical Water Studied By THz Spectroscopy

Supercritical water provides distinctly different solvation properties compared to what is known from liquid water. Despite its prevalence deep in the Earth's crust and its role in chemosynthetic ecosystems in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents, molecular insights into its solvation mechanisms are still very scarce compared to what is known for liquid water. Recently, neutral metal particles have been detected in hydrothermal fluids and proposed to explain the transport of gold species to ore deposits on Earth. Using ab initio molecular dynamics, we elucidate the solvation properties of small gold species at supercritical conditions. The neutral metal clusters themselves contribute enormous THz intensity not because of their intramolecular vibrations, but due to their pronounced electronic polarization coupling to the dynamical supercritical solvent, leading to a continuum absorption up to about 1000 cm-1. On top, long-lived interactions between the gold clusters and solvation water leads at these supercritical conditions to a sharp THz resonance that happens to be close to the one due to H-bonding in liquid water at ambient conditions. The resulting distinct resonances can be used to analyse the solvation properties of neutral metal particles in supercritical aqueous solutions.

Supercritical Water is not Hydrogen Bonded

Thinking about water is inextricably linked to hydrogen bonds, which are highly directional in character and determine the unique structure of water, in particular its tetrahedral H-bond network. Here, we assess if this common connotation also holds for supercritical water. We employ extensive ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to systematically monitor the evolution of the H-bond network mode of water from room temperature, where it is the hallmark of its fluctuating three-dimensional network structure, to supercritical conditions. Our simulations reveal that the oscillation period required for H-bond vibrations to occur exceeds the lifetime of H-bonds in supercritical water by far. Instead, the corresponding low-frequency intermolecular vibrations of water pairs as seen in supercritical water are found to be well represented by isotropic van-der-Waals interactions only. Based on these findings, we conclude that water in its supercritical phase is not a H-bonded fluid.

Assessing the properties of supercritical water in terms of structural dynamics and electronic polarization effects

Evolution of water's structural dynamics from ambient liquid to supercritical dense liquid-like and dilute gas-like conditions.

Supercritical Water as a Solvent

Water is not restricted to moderate temperatures and low pressures, but can exist up to very high temperatures, far above its critical point at 647 K. In this supercritical regime, water can be gradually compressed from gas-like to liquid-like densities. The resulting dense supercritical states have extraordinary properties which can be tuned by temperature and pressure, and form the basis for innovative technologies. This Review covers the current knowledge of the major properties of supercritical water and its solutions with nonpolar, polar, and ionic compounds, and of the underlying molecular processes.

Aqueous high-temperature and high-pressure organic geochemistry of hydrothermal vent systems

Hydrothermal systems associated with oceanic spreading centers are now recognized as relatively common phenomena, and the organic chemical alterations occurring there are rapid and efficient. In the marine hydrothermal systems at water depths > 1.5 km, the conditions driving chemical reactions are high temperatures (up to >400 degrees C), confining pressures (>150 bar), and other parameters such as pH, Eh, and mineralogy in an aqueous open flow medium. Continental hydrothermal systems may also be of interest, as, for example, in failed or dormant rifts and regions around piercement volcanoes. Organic matter alteration by reductive reactions to petroleum hydrocarbons occurs in hydrothermal systems over a wide temperature window (approximately 60 to >400 degrees C), under elevated pressure, and in a brief geological time (years to hundreds of years). The products are rapidly moved as bulk phase or in fluids from the regions at higher temperatures to areas at lower temperatures, where the high molecular weight material separates from the bulk. These conditions are conducive to organic chemistry which yields concurrent products by primarily reduction (due to mineral buffering), oxidation (high thermal stress), and synthesis reactions. This chemistry is just beginning to be elucidated by the geochemical community, but there are various industrial applications which provide useful preliminary insight. Therefore, the behavior of organic matter (inclusive of methane to high molecular weight compounds > C40) in warm to supercritical water needs to be characterized to understand the implications of this novel phenomenon in geological and geochemical processes, and the chemistry occurring over the full temperature spectrum of hydrothermal systems is of relevance to origins of life research.