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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Thermodynamic anomalies in a lattice model of water: solvation properties
1Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia (INFM) and Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, I-10129 Torino, Italy. marco.pretti@polito.it
Abstract:
We investigate a lattice-fluid model of water, defined on a three-dimensional body-centered-cubic lattice. Model molecules possess a tetrahedral symmetry, with four equivalent bonding arms. The model is similar to the one proposed by Roberts and Debenedetti [J. Chem. Phys. 105, 658 (1996)], simplified by removing distinction between "donors" and "acceptors." We focus on the solvation properties, mainly as far as an ideally inert (hydrophobic) solute is concerned. As in our previous analysis, devoted to neat water [J. Chem. Phys. 121, 11856 (2004)], we make use of a generalized first-order approximation on a tetrahedral cluster. We show that the model exhibits quite a coherent picture of water thermodynamics, reproducing qualitatively several anomalous properties observed both in pure water and in solutions of hydrophobic solutes. As far as supercooled liquid water is concerned, the model is consistent with the second critical-point scenario.
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