Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Solvent–Solvent Correlations across Graphene: The Effect of Image Charges

Journal Article · · ACS Nano
Wetting experiments show pure graphene to be weakly hydrophilic, but its contact angle (CA) also reflects the character of the supporting material. Measurements and Molecular Dynamics simulations on suspended and supported graphene often reveal a CA reduction due to the presence of the supporting substrate. A similar reduction is consistently observed when graphene is wetted from both sides. The effect has been attributed to transparency to molecular interactions across the graphene sheet, however, the possibility of substrate-induced graphene polarization has also been considered. Computer simulations of CA on graphene have so far been determined by ignoring the material’s conducting properties. We improve the graphene model by incorporating its conductivity according to the Constant Applied Potential Molecular Dynamics. Using this method, we compare the wettabilities of suspended graphene and graphene supported by water by measuring the CA of cylindrical water drops on the sheets. The inclusion of graphene conductivity and concomitant polarization effects lead to a lower CA on suspended graphene but the CA reduction is significantly bigger when the sheets are also wetted from the opposite side. The stronger adhesion is accompanied by a profound change in the correlations among water molecules across the sheet. While partial charges on water molecules interacting across an insulator sheet attract charges of the opposite sign, apparent attraction among like charges is manifested across the conducting graphene. The change is associated with graphene polarization, as the image charges inside the conductor attract equally signed partial charges of water molecules on both sides of the sheet. Additionally, by using a non-polar liquid (diiodomethane), we affirm a detectable wetting translucency when liquid-liquid forces are dominated by dispersive interactions. Furthermore, our findings are important for predictive modeling toward a variety of applications including sensors, fuel cell membranes, water filtration, and graphene-based electrode materials in high-performance supercapacitors.
Research Organization:
Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Contributing Organization:
VCU
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0004406
OSTI ID:
1638266
Journal Information:
ACS Nano, Journal Name: ACS Nano Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 14; ISSN 1936-0851
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (94)

Two-Dimensional Dielectric Nanosheets: Novel Nanoelectronics From Nanocrystal Building Blocks journal October 2011
Hydrophilicity of Graphene in Water through Transparency to Polar and Dispersive Interactions journal December 2017
Fast Parallel Algorithms for Short-Range Molecular Dynamics journal March 1995
Current Review on Synthesis, Composites and Multifunctional Properties of Graphene journal March 2019
Wetting transparency of supported graphene is regulated by polarities of liquids and substrates journal October 2018
Progress in understanding wetting transitions on rough surfaces journal August 2015
A polarizable model of water for molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules journal January 2006
Graphene: Fundamental research and potential applications journal August 2017
Emergence of graphene as a promising anode material for rechargeable batteries: a review journal March 2019
Automated Topology Builder Version 3.0: Prediction of Solvation Free Enthalpies in Water and Hexane journal October 2018
Parametrizing Nonbonded Interactions from Wetting Experiments via the Work of Adhesion: Example of Water on Graphene Surfaces journal December 2015
Thickness and Stacking Dependent Polarizability and Dielectric Constant of Graphene–Hexagonal Boron Nitride Composite Stacks journal July 2016
Insights on the Role of Many-Body Polarization Effects in the Wetting of Graphitic Surfaces by Water journal December 2017
Multifaceted Water Dynamics in Spherical Nanocages journal February 2019
Ion Interactions across Graphene in Electrolyte Aqueous Solutions journal March 2019
Effective Polarization in Pairwise Potentials at the Graphene–Electrolyte Interface journal January 2017
Multiscale Simulation Method for Quantitative Prediction of Surface Wettability at the Atomistic Level journal March 2018
On the Mechanism of Hydrophilicity of Graphene journal June 2016
Effective Approach for Increasing the Heteroatom Doping Levels of Porous Carbons for Superior CO 2 Capture and Separation Performance journal October 2017
Ultrathin Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials journal September 2015
Dynamic Response in Nanoelectrowetting on a Dielectric journal August 2016
Computationally Driven Two-Dimensional Materials Design: What Is Next? journal July 2017
Apparent Softening of Wet Graphene Membranes on a Microfluidic Platform journal April 2018
Structural Control of Graphene-Based Materials for Unprecedented Performance journal May 2018
Slippery and Sticky Graphene in Water journal January 2019
van der Waals Contact Engineering of Graphene Field-Effect Transistors for Large-Area Flexible Electronics journal March 2019
An Automated Force Field Topology Builder (ATB) and Repository: Version 1.0 journal October 2011
The missing term in effective pair potentials journal November 1987
On the Mechanism of Hydrophobic Association of Nanoscopic Solutes journal March 2005
Structure and Dynamics of the TIP3P, SPC, and SPC/E Water Models at 298 K journal November 2001
Orientation-Averaged Pair Potentials between Dipolar Proteins or Colloids journal March 2002
On the Water−Carbon Interaction for Use in Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Graphite and Carbon Nanotubes journal February 2003
Electric Field Fluctuations Drive Vibrational Dephasing in Water journal October 2005
Water-Induced Interactions between Carbon Nanoparticles journal June 2006
Electrowetting at the Nanoscale journal January 2007
Fluctuations in Number of Water Molecules Confined between Nanoparticles journal October 2010
Electric Control of Wetting by Salty Nanodrops: Molecular Dynamics Simulations journal October 2011
Are Buckyballs Hydrophobic? journal October 2014
Exploring Adsorption of Water and Ions on Carbon Surfaces Using a Polarizable Force Field journal January 2013
Wettability and Surface Free Energy of Graphene Films journal September 2009
Dynamic Wetting Studied by Molecular Modeling Simulations of Droplet Spreading journal October 1999
Electric-Field Dependence of the Effective Dielectric Constant in Graphene journal February 2013
Wetting and Interfacial Properties of Water Nanodroplets in Contact with Graphene and Monolayer Boron–Nitride Sheets journal February 2012
Wetting transparency of graphene journal January 2012
Effect of airborne contaminants on the wettability of supported graphene and graphite journal July 2013
Polycrystalline graphene and other two-dimensional materials journal August 2014
Electronics based on two-dimensional materials journal October 2014
Polarity governs atomic interaction through two-dimensional materials journal October 2018
Solving the Controversy on the Wetting Transparency of Graphene journal October 2015
Wettability of partially suspended graphene journal April 2016
Water–carbon interactions III: The influence of surface and fluid impurities journal January 2004
2D materials: to graphene and beyond journal January 2011
Wetting dynamics of a water nanodrop on graphene journal January 2016
Electrokinetic flow of an aqueous electrolyte in amorphous silica nanotubes journal January 2018
Wettability of graphene: from influencing factors and reversible conversions to potential applications journal January 2019
Water wettability of graphene: interplay between the interfacial water structure and the electronic structure journal January 2018
Dynamical insights into the mechanism of a droplet detachment from a fiber journal January 2018
Graphene-related nanomaterials: tuning properties by functionalization journal January 2013
Dielectric permittivity profiles of confined polar fluids journal March 2005
Electrochemical interface between an ionic liquid and a model metallic electrode journal February 2007
Surface tension of the most popular models of water by using the test-area simulation method journal April 2007
Origin of line tension for a Lennard-Jones nanodroplet journal February 2011
The Nose–Hoover thermostat journal October 1985
Diffusion of ionic penetrants in charged disordered media journal January 1994
Influence of surface topology and electrostatic potential on water/electrode systems journal January 1995
Ion–ion correlations in quenched disordered media journal May 1996
Wettability of pristine and alkyl-functionalized graphane journal July 2012
Polarizability effects in molecular dynamics simulations of the graphene-water interface journal February 2013
Ewald summation for systems with slab geometry journal August 1999
Electrostatics of liquid interfaces journal June 2014
Wetting transparency of graphene in water journal November 2014
Evaluation of the constant potential method in simulating electric double-layer capacitors journal November 2014
Effects of interlayer screening and temperature on dielectric functions of graphene by first-principles journal July 2016
Ion-ion correlations across and between electrified graphene layers journal May 2018
Flow of quasi-two dimensional water in graphene channels journal February 2018
Anisotropic structure and dynamics of water under static electric fields journal February 2019
Effect of material flexibility on the thermodynamics and kinetics of hydrophobically induced evaporation of water journal March 2017
Properties of graphene: a theoretical perspective journal July 2010
Modulation of structure and dynamics of water under alternating electric field and the role of hydrogen bonding journal August 2019
Computational study of dielectric function and optical properties of a graphane nano structure containing graphene quantum dot journal November 2013
Water on graphene: review of recent progress journal January 2018
Ab initio study of polarizability and induced charge densities in multilayer graphene films journal May 2008
Understanding controls on interfacial wetting at epitaxial graphene: Experiment and theory journal January 2012
Thickness and electric-field-dependent polarizability and dielectric constant in phosphorene journal May 2016
Breakdown in the Wetting Transparency of Graphene journal October 2012
Static Dielectric Properties of Carbon Nanotubes from First Principles journal April 2006
Estimation of planar curves, surfaces, and nonplanar space curves defined by implicit equations with applications to edge and range image segmentation journal January 1991
Autoionization in Liquid Water journal March 2001
Graphene: Status and Prospects journal June 2009
Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Nanotubes journal August 2002
Review—Biosensing and Biomedical Applications of Graphene: A Review of Current Progress and Future Prospect journal January 2019
Performance and Characterization of Two-Dimensional Material Graphene Conductivity—A Review journal January 2019
Recent Development of Graphene-Based Materials for Cathode Application in Lithium Batteries: A Review and Outlook journal July 2019
Electronic Properties of Curved Few-Layers Graphene: A Geometrical Approach journal April 2018