Crystal structures of model lithium halides in bulk phase and in clusters

Abstract

We employ lattice energy calculations and molecular dynamics simulations to compare the stability of wurtzite and rock salt crystal structures of four lithium halides (LiF, LiCl, LiBr, and LiI) modeled using the Tosi-Fumi and Joung-Cheatham potentials, which are models frequently used in simulation studies. Both infinite crystals and finite clusters are considered. For the Tosi-Fumi model, we find that all four salts prefer the wurtzite structure both at 0 K and at finite temperatures, in disagreement with experiments, where rock salt is the stable structure and wurtzite exists as a metastable state. For Joung-Cheatham potentials, rock salt is more stable for LiF and LiCl, but the wurtzite structure is preferred by LiBr and LiI. It is clear that the available lithium halide force fields need improvement to bring them into better accord with the experiment. Finite-size clusters that are more stable as rock salt in the bulk phase tend to solidify as small rock salt crystals. However, small clusters of salts that prefer the wurtzite structure as bulk crystals tend to form structures that have hexagonal motifs, but are not finite-size wurtzite crystals. We show that small wurtzite structures are unstable due to the presence of a dipole and rearrange into more stable, size-dependent structures. We also show that entropic contributions can act in favor of the wurtzite structure at higher temperatures. The possible relevance of our results for simulation studies of crystal nucleation from melts and/or aqueous solutions is discussed.