Issue 19, 2020

Electromechanics of the liquid water vapour interface

Abstract

Two collective properties distinguishing the thin liquid water vapour interface from the bulk liquid are the anisotropy of the pressure tensor giving rise to surface tension and the orientational alignment of the molecules leading to a finite dipolar surface potential. Both properties can be regarded as capillary phenomena and are likely to be coupled. We have investigated this coupling by determining the response of the tangential component of the surface tension to the application of an electric field normal to the surface using finite field molecular dynamics simulations. We find an upside down parabola with a maximum shifted away from zero field. Comparing the molecular dynamics results to a phenomenological electromechanical model we relate the zero field derivative of the tangential part of the surface tension to the electrostatic potential generated by the spontaneous interface polarization. When interpreted with this model our simulations also indicate that Kelvin forces due to electric field gradients at a polarized interface play an important role in the effective dielectric response.

Graphical abstract: Electromechanics of the liquid water vapour interface

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 דצמ 2019
Accepted
29 ינו 2020
First published
30 ינו 2020

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2020,22, 10676-10686

Electromechanics of the liquid water vapour interface

C. Zhang and M. Sprik, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2020, 22, 10676 DOI: 10.1039/C9CP06901A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements