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Updated: May 8, 2026

Multiscale Sampling of a Heterogeneous Water/Metal Catalyst Interface using Density Functional Theory and Force-Field Molecular Dynamics
Published on: April 12, 2019
Computational studies of water exchange around aqueous Li+ with polarizable potential models
Liem X Dang1, Harsha V R Annapureddy
1Physical Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 93352, USA.
Abstract:
To enhance our understanding of the mechanism of water-exchange around aqueous Li(+), we carried out a systematic study on this system using molecular dynamics simulations with polarizable potential models. The mechanistic properties associated with the water-exchange process, such as potentials of mean force, time dependent transmission coefficients, and the corresponding rate constants, were examined using transition rate theory, the reactive flux method, and Grote-Hynes treatments of the dynamic response of the solvent. We compared the computed rate theory results with results from previous corresponding studies in which classical non-polarizable force fields were used. Our computed barrier heights for water exchange are significantly larger than those obtained using classical non-polarizable force fields. We also studied the effect of pressure on water-exchange rates and the corresponding activation volume. Our computed rate results for water exchange increase with pressure; therefore, a small negative activation volume is observed.
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