Structure and dynamics of simple ionic liquids

Experimental Investigation of Triplet Correlation Approximations for Fluid Water

Triplet correlations play a central role in our understanding of fluids and their properties. Of particular interest is the relationship between the pair and triplet correlations. Here we use a combination of Fluctuation Solution Theory and experimental pair radial distribution functions to investigate the accuracy of the Kirkwood Superposition Approximation (KSA), as given by integrals over the relevant pair and triplet correlation functions, at a series of state points for pure water using only experimental quantities. The KSA performs poorly, in agreement with a variety of other studies. Several additional approximate relationships between the pair and triplet correlations in fluids are also investigated and generally provide good agreement for the fluid thermodynamics for regions of the phase diagram where the compressibility is small. A simple power law relationship between the pair and triplet fluctuations is particularly successful for state points displaying low to moderately high compressibilities.

Screening Lengths in Ionic Fluids

The decay of correlations in ionic fluids is a classical problem in soft matter physics that underpins applications ranging from controlling colloidal self-assembly to batteries and supercapacitors. The conventional wisdom, based on analyzing a solvent-free electrolyte model, suggests that all correlation functions between species decay with a common decay length in the asymptotic far field limit. Nonetheless, a solvent is present in many electrolyte systems. We show using an analytical theory and molecular dynamics simulations that multiple decay lengths can coexist in the asymptotic limit as well as at intermediate distances once a hard sphere solvent is considered. Our analysis provides an explanation for the recently observed discontinuous change in the structural force across a thin film of ionic liquid-solvent mixtures as the composition is varied, as well as reframes recent debates in the literature about the screening length in concentrated electrolytes.

A closure relation to molecular theory of solvation for macromolecules

We propose a closure to the integral equations of molecular theory of solvation, particularly suitable for polar and charged macromolecules in electrolyte solution. This includes such systems as oligomeric polyelectrolytes at a finite concentration in aqueous and various non-aqueous solutions, as well as drug-like compounds in solution. The new closure by Kobryn, Gusarov, and Kovalenko (KGK closure) imposes the mean spherical approximation (MSA) almost everywhere in the solvation shell but levels out the density distribution function to zero (with the continuity at joint boundaries) inside the repulsive core and in the spatial regions of strong density depletion emerging due to molecular associative interactions. Similarly to MSA, the KGK closure reduces the problem to a linear equation for the direct correlation function which is predefined analytically on most of the solvation shells and has to be determined numerically on a relatively small (three-dimensional) domain of strong depletion, typically within the repulsive core. The KGK closure leads to the solvation free energy in the form of the Gaussian fluctuation (GF) functional. We first test the performance of the KGK closure coupled to the reference interaction site model (RISM) integral equations on the examples of Lennard-Jones liquids, polar and nonpolar molecular solvents, including water, and aqueous solutions of simple ions. The solvation structure, solvation chemical potential, and compressibility obtained from RISM with the KGK closure favorably compare to the results of the hypernetted chain (HNC) and Kovalenko-Hirata (KH) closures, including their combination with the GF solvation free energy. We then use the KGK closure coupled to RISM to obtain the solvation structure and thermodynamics of oligomeric polyelectrolytes and drug-like compounds at a finite concentration in electrolyte solution, for which no convergence is obtained with other closures. For comparison, we calculate their solvation structure from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We further couple the 3D-RISM integral equation with the 3D-version of the KGK closure, and solve it for molecular mixtures as well as oligomeric polyelectrolytes and drug-like molecules in electrolyte solutions.

Effect of ion polarization on longitudinal excitations in ionic melts

A simplified model for a collective dynamics in ionic melts is proposed for the description of optic-like excitations. Within a polarization model of ionic melt, the analytical expressions for optic and relaxation dipole modes are obtained. The considered model allows one to describe a softening of frequency and an increase of damping of optic modes caused by polarization processes in comparison with the rigid-ion model. The contributions related with ion polarization to time correlation functions are calculated.

Statistical description of hydrodynamic processes in ionic melts while taking into account polarization effects

A statistical description of hydrodynamic processes for molten salts is proposed taking into account polarization effects caused by the deformation of external ionic shells. This description is conducted by means of the Zubarev nonequilibrium statistical operator method, appropriate for researches of both strong and weak nonequilibrium processes. The nonequilibrium statistical operator and the generalized hydrodynamic equations that take into account the polarization processes are acquired for the ion-polarization model of ionic molten salts when the nonequilibrium averaged values of densities of ions number, their momentum, dipole momentum, and total energy are chosen for the reduced description parameters. A spectrum of collective excitations is investigated within the viscoelastic approximation for the ion-polarization model of ionic melts.

Performance of quantum chemically derived charges and persistence of ion cages in ionic liquids. A molecular dynamics simulations study of 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide

We carried out classical molecular dynamics simulations with a standard and two quantum chemistry based charge sets to study the ionic liquid 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, [C(4)C(1)im][Br]. We split the cation up into different charge groups and found that the total charge and the charge distribution in the imidazolium ring are completely different in the three systems while the total charge of the butyl chain is much better conserved between the methods. For comparison, the spatial distribution functions and the radial distribution functions as well as different time correlation functions were calculated. For the structural properties we obtained a good agreement between the standard and one of the two quantum chemistry based sets, while the results from the second quantum chemistry based set led to a completely different picture. The opposite was observed for the dynamic properties, which agree well between the standard set and the second quantum chemistry based set, whereas the dynamics in the first charge set obtained by quantum chemistry calculations proceeded much too slow, which is not obvious from the total charge. We observed, that the structure of the butyl chain is mostly unaffected by the choice of the charge set. This is an indirect proof for separation into ionic parts and nonpolar domains. A second focus of the article is the investigation of dynamical heterogeneity and the ion cages. Therefore, we analyzed the reorientational dynamics in the three systems and at five different temperatures in system with the standard charge set. Generally speaking, we detected four different time domains. The fastest movement can be found for the continuous hydrogen bond and the nearest neighbor ion pair dynamics. In the second time domain the movement of the butyl chain took place. The third time domain consisted in the increasing movement of the imidazolium ring as well as in the continuous distortion of an ion cage, i.e., the departure of one of the several counterions from the central ion's first shell, and the intermittent hydrogen bond dynamics. The remaining domain involves the translational displacement of the ions.

Collective dynamics in liquid lead: generalized propagating excitations

A microscopic approach to the investigation of generalized collective excitations, developed recently for pure liquids, is applied to the study of the spectrum of collective excitations in a liquid metal. The calculations are performed for liquid lead at two temperatures (above the melting point and in high-temperature region) and the results are compared. From the analysis of spectra, obtained for different basis sets of dynamical variables, we conclude that there exist three branches of propagating collective excitations, which correspond to sound and heat (high- and low-frequency) waves in the liquid. It is shown that the branch of low-frequency heat waves contains a propagation gap in the hydrodynamic region. An analytical expression for the width of the propagation gap for low-frequency heat waves is derived.

Generalized hydrodynamics of binary liquids: transverse collective modes

The parameter-free generalized collective modes approach in eight-variable approximation is applied for investigation of transverse dynamics of Lennard-Jones liquid Kr-Ar beyond the hydrodynamic region. We find four branches of propagating eigenmodes in the spectrum of transverse collective excitations. Different basis sets of dynamical variables are applied to estimate the origin of different branches in the spectrum. It is shown that for large wave numbers the general feature of transverse collective excitations is their "partial" character, while in hydrodynamic limit they are formed by collective behavior of liquid. A detailed analysis of the separated contributions from different collective modes into time correlation functions and spectral functions is performed. The condition of existence of high-frequency mass-concentration waves is derived. It is shown that high-frequency collective excitations, caused by the mass-concentration fluctuations, reflect some properties of optic phonon modes in solids.

Dynamics of a charged simple fluid with exponential memory and two relaxation times

The memory function formalism is applied to the study of charge fluctuations in a symmetric simple fluid. We assume the ions interact through the Rammanathan-Friedman potential. We calculate the distribution function using the hypernetted-chain approximation and use an exponential form, depending on two relaxation times, for the second-order memory function. Following this procedure, two algebraic equations for the relaxation times are obtained. These can be solved using the fourth- and sixth-order frequency momenta, yielding expressions for the relaxation times in terms of the characteristic parameters of the system. This approach allows the analysis of the dynamical structure factor and the dynamical behavior of the charge fluctuations. A comparison of these results with some recently reported in which the distribution function is calculated via mean spherical approximation theory, shows clearly the limitations of mean-field formalisms to describe the dynamics of charged fluids.