The role of water co-adsorption on the modification of ZnO nanowires using acetic acid

Abstract

Density functional theory (DFT) and Car–Parinello molecular dynamic simulations were employed to investigate the interaction of acetic acid with non-polar facets of ultra-thin ZnO nanowires. We consider both a dry and a water environment as well as different molecule coverages for the hydrated system. Our calculations reveal that the fully-covered nanowire is energetically favored in the aqueous environment at room temperature. We also identified a minor influence of liquid water on the denticity of the ligands for the fully modified system. However, a monodentate adsorption is expected for a half-covered nanowire due to strong ligand–water interactions.