A multilayer theory for interfacial properties of systems containing hydrogen bonding molecules

Disruption of hydrogen bond structure of water near charged electrode surfaces

The understanding of the hydrogen (H) bonded structure of water near charged surfaces is highly relevant in the context of several important areas of research, including electrochemistry, biochemistry, and geology. Past simulation studies have not yielded conclusive answers; while some suggest breakage of H bonds near a charged surface, others argue that H-bonding interactions can stabilize the structure of surface water even in the presence of high electric (E) fields. Recent experiments, on the other hand, suggest a partial breakdown of H-bond structure near a charged electrode. In all these studies, however, the conclusions regarding H bonding were drawn based on the density profile of hydrogen/oxygen atoms near the interface. In the present paper, we investigate this problem using a new theory that explicitly accounts for the influence of E field on the H-bond network of water near the solid-liquid interface. We find that the average number of H bonds per molecule in bulk increases from approximately 3.8 at E<10(5) V/m to approximately 3.95 at E=2x10(9) V/m (suggesting enhancement in H-bond network), while that near the electrode surface decreases from approximately 2.8 to a saturation value of approximately 2.0 (suggesting weakening of H-bond network).

Influence of electric field on the hydrogen bond network of water

Understanding the inherent response of water to an external electric (E)-field is useful towards decoupling the role of E-field and surface in several practically encountered situations, such as that near an ion, near a charged surface, or within a biological nanopore. While this problem has been studied in some detail through simulations in the past, it has not been very amenable for theoretical analysis owing to the complexities presented by the hydrogen (H) bond interactions in water. It is also difficult to perform experiments with water in externally imposed, high E-fields owing to dielectric breakdown problems; it is hence all the more important that theoretical progress in this area complements the progress achieved through simulations. In an attempt to fill this lacuna, we develop a theory based on relatively simple concepts of reaction equilibria and Boltzmann distribution. The results are discussed in three parts: one pertaining to a comparison of the key features of the theory vis a vis published simulation/experimental results; second pertaining to insights into the H-bond stoichiometry and molecular orientations at different field strengths and temperatures; and the third relating to a surprising but explainable finding that H-bonds can stabilize molecules whose dipoles are oriented perpendicular to the direction of field (in addition to the E-field and H-bonds both stabilizing molecules with dipoles aligned in the direction of the field).

A new lattice-based theory for hydrogen-bonding liquids in uniform electric fields

We propose a new lattice-based, mean-field theory for predicting alignment of molecular dipoles and hydrogen bonds in liquids subject to uniform electric fields. The theory is presently restricted to liquids whose molecules possess one (proton) donor and one acceptor sites each, and wherein the H-bond axis is collinear with the dipole moments of the bonded molecules. The final expressions for hydrogen bond stoichiometry and polarization are free of lattice parameters, are interpretable using simple phenomenological arguments, and reduce to known limiting forms. The theory is applied to understand the internal structure of hydrogen cyanide in the liquid state at different electric fields.

Density of Pure, Associating Fluids near the Solid-Liquid Interface

In the present letter, we study the role of hydrogen bonds on the density of a pure, associating liquid in the solid-liquid interfacial region. The approach followed by us is to treat the liquid phase as comprising (i) oligomers/clusters of various sizes formed between the molecules of associating components present in the liquid/solid phases and (ii) holes. The interfacial properties of the resulting multicomponent system are then obtained using the monolayer theory proposed earlier by us (Suresh and Naik, 1996, 1997). The resulting expressions are found to be remarkably simple. To clearly demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed theory, results for the density of water-like molecules (each possessing two proton donor and two proton acceptor sites) near a hard wall are compared against those of available Monte-Carlo simulations (Segura and Chapman, 1995) and the density functional theory (Segura et al., 1997). Copyright 1999 Academic Press.