Effect of surface wettability on liquid density, structure, and diffusion near a solid surface

Nanoconfinement between Graphene Walls Suppresses the Near-Wall Diffusion of the Ionic Liquid [BMIM][PF6]

We identify two distinct regimes for the diffusion of the ionic liquid [BMIM][PF₆] confined between parallel graphene walls using molecular dynamics simulations. Within 2 nm of the wall, the cations and anions form a well-defined layered structure. In this region, the in-plane diffusion coefficients are suppressed when compared to their bulk values and increase monotonically with the distance away from the wall. Beyond 2 nm from the wall, the density profile and in-plane diffusion coefficients recover their bulk values. The channel-averaged in-plane diffusion coefficients increase monotonically with wall separation and recover the bulk values at a separation of 15 nm. A simple semianalytical model is proposed that mirrors this trend. The results also highlight the importance of applying a finite-size correction to molecular dynamics-predicted diffusion coefficients of confined liquids, which may otherwise be unusually larger than their bulk values.

Assessment of Density Functional Theory in Predicting Interaction Energies between Water and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: from Water on Benzene to Water on Graphene

The interactions of water with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, from benzene to graphene, are investigated using various exchange-correlation functionals selected across the hierarchy of density functional theory (DFT) approximations. The accuracy of the different functionals is assessed through comparisons with random phase approximation (RPA) and coupled-cluster with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)] calculations. Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) data reported in the literature are also used for comparison. Relatively large variations are found in interaction energies predicted by different DFT models, with GGA functionals underestimating the interaction strength for configurations with the water oxygen pointing toward the aromatic molecules. The meta-GGA B97M-rV and range-separated hybrid, meta-GGA ωB97M-V functionals provide nearly quantitative agreement with CCSD(T) values for the water-benzene, water-coronene, and water-circumcoronene dimers, while RPA and DMC predict interaction energies that differ by up to ∼1 kcal/mol and ∼0.4 kcal/mol from the corresponding CCSD(T) values, respectively. Similar trends among GGA, meta-GGA, and hybrid functionals are observed for larger polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. By performing absolutely localized molecular orbital energy decomposition analyses (ALMO-EDA), it is found that, independently of the number of carbon atoms and exchange-correlation functional, the dominant contributions to the interaction energies between water and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules are the electrostatic and dispersion terms while polarization and charge transfer effects are negligibly small. Calculations carried out with GGA and meta-GGA functionals indicate that, as the number of carbon atoms increases, the interaction energies slowly converge to the corresponding values obtained for an infinite graphene sheet.

Diffusion and reaction pathways of water near fully hydrated TiO2 surfaces from ab initio molecular dynamics

Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are reported for water-embedded TiO₂ surfaces to determine the diffusive and reactive behavior at full hydration. A three-domain model is developed for six surfaces [rutile (110), (100), and (001), and anatase (101), (100), and (001)] which describes waters as "hard" (irreversibly bound to the surface), "soft" (with reduced mobility but orientation freedom near the surface), or "bulk." The model explains previous experimental data and provides a detailed picture of water diffusion near TiO₂ surfaces. Water reactivity is analyzed with a graph-theoretic approach that reveals a number of reaction pathways on TiO₂ which occur at full hydration, in addition to direct water splitting. Hydronium (H₃O⁺) is identified to be a key intermediate state, which facilitates water dissociation by proton hopping between intact and dissociated waters near the surfaces. These discoveries significantly improve the understanding of nanoscale water dynamics and reactivity at TiO₂ interfaces under ambient conditions.

Wettability effect on nanoconfined water flow

Understanding and controlling the flow of water confined in nanopores has tremendous implications in theoretical studies and industrial applications. Here, we propose a simple model for the confined water flow based on the concept of effective slip, which is a linear sum of true slip, depending on a contact angle, and apparent slip, caused by a spatial variation of the confined water viscosity as a function of wettability as well as the nanopore dimension. Results from this model show that the flow capacity of confined water is 10^-1∼10⁷ times that calculated by the no-slip Hagen-Poiseuille equation for nanopores with various contact angles and dimensions, in agreement with the majority of 53 different study cases from the literature. This work further sheds light on a controversy over an increase or decrease in flow capacity from molecular dynamics simulations and experiments.

Numerical experiments on evaporation and explosive boiling of ultra-thin liquid argon film on aluminum nanostructure substrate

Evaporation and explosive boiling of ultra-thin liquid film are of great significant fundamental importance for both science and engineering applications. The evaporation and explosive boiling of ultra-thin liquid film absorbed on an aluminum nanostructure solid wall are investigated by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The simulated system consists of three regions: liquid argon, vapor argon, and an aluminum substrate decorated with nanostructures of different heights. Those simulations begin with an initial configuration for the complex liquid-vapor-solid system, followed by an equilibrating system at 90 K, and conclude with two different jump temperatures, including 150 and 310 K which are far beyond the critical temperature. The space and time dependences of temperature, pressure, density number, and net evaporation rate are monitored to investigate the phase transition process on a flat surface with and without nanostructures. The simulation results reveal that the nanostructures are of great help to raise the heat transfer efficiency and that evaporation rate increases with the nanostructures' height in a certain range.

Scaling of Langevin and molecular dynamics persistence times of nonhomogeneous fluids

The existing solution for the Langevin equation of an anisotropic fluid allowed the evaluation of the position-dependent perpendicular and parallel diffusion coefficients, using molecular dynamics data. However, the time scale of the Langevin dynamics and molecular dynamics are different and an ansatz for the persistence probability relaxation time was needed. Here we show how the solution for the average persistence probability obtained from the backward Smoluchowski-Fokker-Planck equation (SE), associated to the Langevin dynamics, scales with the corresponding molecular dynamics quantity. Our SE perpendicular persistence time is evaluated in terms of simple integrals over the equilibrium local density. When properly scaled by the perpendicular diffusion coefficient, it gives a good match with that obtained from molecular dynamics.

Molecular dynamics and analytical Langevin equation approach for the self-diffusion constant of an anisotropic fluid

We carried out a molecular-dynamics (MD) study of the self-diffusion tensor of a Lennard-Jones-type fluid, confined in a slit pore with attractive walls. We developed Bayesian equations, which modify the virtual layer sampling method proposed by Liu, Harder, and Berne (LHB) [P. Liu, E. Harder, and B. J. Berne, J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 6595 (2004)]. Additionally, we obtained an analytical solution for the corresponding nonhomogeneous Langevin equation. The expressions found for the mean-squared displacement in the layers contain naturally a modification due to the mean force in the transverse component in terms of the anisotropic diffusion constants and mean exit time. Instead of running a time consuming dual MD-Langevin simulation dynamics, as proposed by LHB, our expression was used to fit the MD data in the entire survival time interval not only for the parallel but also for the perpendicular direction. The only fitting parameter was the diffusion constant in each layer.

Reassessing fast water transport through carbon nanotubes

Pressure-driven water flow through carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with diameters ranging from 1.66 to 4.99 nm is examined using molecular dynamics simulation. The flow rate enhancement, defined as the ratio of the observed flow rate to that predicted from the no-slip Hagen-Poiseuille relation, is calculated for each CNT. The enhancement decreases with increasing CNT diameter and ranges from 433 to 47. By calculating the variation of water viscosity and slip length as a function of CNT diameter, it is found that the results can be fully explained in the context of continuum fluid mechanics. The enhancements are lower than previously reported experimental results, which range from 560 to 100 000, suggesting a miscalculation of the available flow area and/or the presence of an uncontrolled external driving force (such as an electric field) in the experiments.