Simulation of supercritical water and of supercritical aqueous solutions

Abstract

Molecular dynamics (MD) calculations have been performed to determine equilibrium structure and properties of systems modeling supercritical (SC) water and SC aqueous solutions at two states near the critical point using the simple point charge (SPC) potential model of Berendsen et al. for water. Both thermodynamic and dielectric properties from the simulations for pure water are accurate in comparison with experimental results even though the SPC model parameters were fitted to properties of ambient water. Details of the near-critical clustering in SC water have been predicted which have not been measured to date. MD studies have also been undertaken of systems that model sodium and chloride ions and neutral argon in SC water at the same states. The first solvation shell in SC water is observed to be similar to that in ambient water, and long-range solvation structures in SC water are similar to those observed for simple SC solvents. An excess of water molecules is observed clustering around ionic solutes which behave attractively and a deficit is observed around neutral atomic solutes which behave repulsively. These results should be helpful in developing a qualitative understanding of important processes that occur in SC water.