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Register a new userQuantum kinetic energy and isotope fractionation in aqueous ionic solutions
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At room temperature, the quantum contribution to the kinetic energy of a water molecule exceeds the classical contribution by an order of magnitude. The quantum kinetic energy (QKE) of a water molecule is modulated by its local chemical environment and leads to uneven partitioning of isotopes between different phases in thermal equilibrium, which would not occur if the nuclei behaved classically. In this work, we use ab initio path integral simulations to show that QKEs of the water molecules and the equilibrium isotope fractionation ratios of the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes are sensitive probes of the hydrogen bonding structures in aqueous ionic solutions. In particular, we demonstrate how the QKE of water molecules in path integral simulations can be decomposed into translational, rotational and vibrational degrees of freedom, and use them to determine the impact of solvation on different molecular motions. By analyzing the QKEs and isotope fractionation ratios, we show how the addition of the Na$^+$, Cl$^-$ and HPO$_4^{2-}$ ions perturbs the competition between quantum effects in liquid water and impacts their local solvation structures.
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Fractionation of isotopes among distinct molecules or phases is a quantum effect which is often exploited to obtain insights on reaction mechanisms, biochemical, geochemical and atmospheric phenomena. Accurate evaluation of isotope ratios in atomistic simulations is challenging, because one needs to perform a thermodynamic integration with respect to the isotope mass, along with time-consuming path integral calculations. By re-formulating the problem as a particle exchange in the ring polymer partition function, we derive new estimators giving direct access to the differential partitioning of isotopes, which can simplify the calculations by avoiding thermodynamic integration. We demonstrate the efficiency of these estimators by applying them to investigate the isotope fractionation ratios in the gas-phase Zundel cation, and in a few simple hydrocarbons.
We report on the effects of electron collision and indirect ionization processes, occurring at photoexcitation and electron kinetic energies well below 30 eV on the photoemission spectra of liquid water. We show that the nascent photoelectron spectrum and, hence, the inferred electron binding energy can only be accurately determined if electron energies are large enough that cross sections for quasi-elastic scattering processes, such as vibrational excitation, are negligible. Otherwise, quasi-elastic scattering leads to strong, down-to-few-meV kinetic energy scattering losses from the direct photoelectron features, which manifest in severely distorted intrinsic photoelectron peak shapes. The associated cross-over point from predominant (known) electronically inelastic to quasi-elastic scattering seems to arise at surprisingly large electron kinetic energies, of approximately 10-14 eV. Concomitantly, we present evidence for the onset of indirect, autoionization phenomena (occurring via superexcited states) within a few eV of the primary and secondary ionization thresholds. These processes are inferred to compete with the direct ionization channels and primarily produce low-energy photoelectrons at photon and electron impact excitation energies below ~15 eV. Our results highlight that vibrational inelastic electron scattering processes and neutral photoexcitation and autoionization channels become increasingly important when photon and electron kinetic energies are decreased towards the ionization threshold. Correspondingly, we show that for neat water and aqueous solutions, great care must be taken when quantitatively analyzing photoelectron spectra measured too close to the ionization threshold. Such care is essential for both the accurate determination of solvent and solute ionization energies as well as photoelectron branching ratios and peak magnitudes.
Revelation of chlorine and bromine isotope fractionation of halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) in electron ionization mass spectrometry (EI-MS) is crucial for compound-specific chlorine/bromine isotope analysis (CSIA-Cl/Br) using gas chromatography EI-MS (GC-EI-MS). This study systematically investigated chlorine/bromine isotope fractionation in EI-MS of HOCs including 12 organochlorines and 5 organobromines using GC-double focus magnetic-sector high resolution MS (GC-DFS-HRMS). Chlorine/bromine isotope fractionation behaviors of the HOCs in EI-MS showed varied isotope fractionation patterns and extents depending on compounds. Besides, isotope fractionation patterns and extents varied at different EI energies, demonstrating potential impacts of EI energy on the chlorine/bromine isotope fractionation. Hypotheses of inter-ion and intra-ion isotope fractionations were applied to interpreting the isotope fractionation behaviors. The inter-ion and intra-ion isotope fractionations counteractively contributed to the apparent isotope ratio for a certain dehalogenated product ion. The isotope fractionation mechanisms were tentatively elucidated on basis of the quasi-equilibrium theory. In the light of the findings of this study, isotope ratio evaluation scheme using complete molecular ions and the EI source with sufficient stable EI energies may be helpful to achieve optimal precision and accuracy of CSIA-Cl/Br data. The method and results of this study can help to predict isotope fractionation of HOCs during dehalogenation processes and further to reveal the dehalogenation pathways.
We use molecular dynamics simulations in a constant potential ensemble to study the effects of solution composition on the electrochemical response of a double layer capacitor. We find that the capacitance first increases with ion concentration following its expected ideal solution behavior, but decreases upon approaching a pure ionic liquid in agreement with recent experimental observations. The non-monotonic behavior of the capacitance as a function of ion concentration results from the competition between the independent motion of solvated ions in the dilute regime and solvation fluctuations in the concentrated regime. Mirroring the capacitance, we find that the characteristic decay length of charge density correlations away from the electrode is also non-monotonic. The correlation length first decreases with ion concentration as a result of better electrostatic screening but increases with ion concentration as a result of enhanced steric interactions. When charge fluctuations induced by correlated ion-solvent fluctuations are large relative to those induced by the pure ionic liquid, such capacitive behavior is expected to be generic.
A concept of Kinetic Energy in Quantum Mechanics is analyzed. Kinetic Energy is not zero in many cases where there are no motion and flux. This paradox can be understood, using expansion of the wave function in Fourier integral, that is on the basis of virtual plane waves.
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