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Updated: May 17, 2026

Multiscale Sampling of a Heterogeneous Water/Metal Catalyst Interface using Density Functional Theory and Force-Field Molecular Dynamics
Published on: April 12, 2019
Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics study of the uranyl behaviour at the gibbsite/water interface
Sébastien Lectez1, Jérôme Roques, Mathieu Salanne
1Institut de Physique Nucléaire d'Orsay, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS UMR 8608, 15 rue Georges Clémenceau, Bâtiment 100, 91406 ORSAY Cedex, France.
Abstract:
The uranyl cation UO(2)(2+) adsorption on the basal face of gibbsite is studied via Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics. In a first step, we study the water sorption on a gibbsite surface. Three different sorption modes are observed and their hydrogen bond patterns are, respectively, characterized. Then we investigate the sorption properties of an uranyl cation, in the presence of water. In order to take into account the protonation state of the (001) gibbsite face, both a neutral (001) face and a locally deprotonated (001) face are modeled. In the first case, three adsorbed uranyl complexes (1 outer sphere and 2 inner spheres) with similar stabilities are identified. In the second case, when the gibbsite face is locally deprotonated, two adsorbed complexes (1 inner sphere and 1 outer one) are characterized. The inner sphere complex appears to be the most strongly linked to the gibbsite face.
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