Computational and Spectroscopic Investigations of the Molecular Scale Structure and Dynamics of Geologically Important Fluids and Mineral-Fluid Interfaces
Research supported by this grant focuses on molecular scale understanding of central issues related to the structure and dynamics of geochemically important fluids, fluid-mineral interfaces, and confined fluids using computational modeling and experimental methods. Molecular scale knowledge about fluid structure and dynamics, how these are affected by mineral surfaces and molecular-scale (nano-) confinement, and how water molecules and dissolved species interact with surfaces is essential to understanding the fundamental chemistry of a wide range of low-temperature geochemical processes, including sorption and geochemical transport. Our principal efforts are devoted to continued development of relevant computational approaches, application of these approaches to important geochemical questions, relevant NMR and other experimental studies, and application of computational modeling methods to understanding the experimental results. The combination of computational modeling and experimental approaches is proving highly effective in addressing otherwise intractable problems. In 2006-2007 we have significantly advanced in new, highly promising research directions along with completion of on-going projects and final publication of work completed in previous years. New computational directions are focusing on modeling proton exchange reactions in aqueous solutions using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD), metadynamics (MTD), and empirical valence bond (EVB) approaches. Proton exchange is critical to understanding the structure, dynamics, and reactivity at mineral-water interfaces and for oxy-ions in solution, but has traditionally been difficult to model with molecular dynamics (MD). Our ultimate objective is to develop this capability, because MD is much less computationally demanding than quantum-chemical approaches. We have also extended our previous MD simulations of metal binding to natural organic matter (NOM) to a much longer time scale (up to 10 ns) for significantly larger systems. These calculations have allowed us, for the first time, to study the effects of metal cations with different charges and charge density on the NOM aggregation in aqueous solutions. Other computational work has looked at the longer-time-scale dynamical behavior of aqueous species at mineral-water interfaces investigated simultaneously by NMR spectroscopy. Our experimental NMR studies have focused on understanding the structure and dynamics of water and dissolved species at mineral-water interfaces and in two-dimensional nano-confinement within clay interlayers. Combined NMR and MD study of H2O, Na+, and Cl- interactions with the surface of quartz has direct implications regarding interpretation of sum frequency vibrational spectroscopic experiments for this phase and will be an important reference for future studies. We also used NMR to examine the behavior of K+ and H2O in the interlayer and at the surfaces of the clay minerals hectorite and illite-rich illite-smectite. This the first time K+ dynamics has been characterized spectroscopically in geochemical systems. Preliminary experiments were also performed to evaluate the potential of 75As NMR as a probe of arsenic geochemical behavior. The 75As NMR study used advanced signal enhancement methods, introduced a new data acquisition approach to minimize the time investment in ultra-wide-line NMR experiments, and provides the first evidence of a strong relationship between the chemical shift and structural parameters for this experimentally challenging nucleus. We have also initiated a series of inelastic and quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements of water dynamics in the interlayers of clays and layered double hydroxides. The objective of these experiments is to probe the correlations of water molecular motions in confined spaces over the scale of times and distances most directly comparable to our MD simulations and on a time scale different than that probed by NMR. This work is being done in collaboration with Drs. C.-K. Loong, N. de Souza, and A.I. Kolesnikov at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source facility of the Argonne National Lab, and Dr. A. Faraone at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. A manuscript reporting the first results of these experiments, which are highly complimentary to our previous NMR, X-ray, and infra-red results for these phases, is currently in preparation. In total, in 2006-2007 our work has resulted in the publication of 14 peer-reviewed research papers. We also devoted considerable effort to making our work known to a wide range of researchers, as indicated by the 24 contributed abstracts and 14 invited presentations.
- Research Organization:
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-00ER15028
- OSTI ID:
- 943318
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/15028-1; TRN: US1001291
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
ARSENIC
CATIONS
CHARGE DENSITY
CHEMICAL SHIFT
CHEMISTRY
CLAYS
CONFINEMENT
DATA ACQUISITION
FOCUSING
HYDROXIDES
MONTMORILLONITE
NEUTRON SOURCES
NEUTRONS
ORGANIC MATTER
PROBES
PROTONS
QUARTZ
SCATTERING
SORPTION
SPECTROSCOPY
VALENCE
NMR spectroscopy
molecular dynamics
computer simulations
mineral-water interfaces
natural organic matter