How does microwave irradiation affect the mechanism of water reorientation?

Abstract

We employed non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the hydrogen-bond dynamics in bulk water upon microwave heating. Microwave irradiation has been taken into account implicitly by performing simulations at a rotational temperature exceeding the translational one (Tr >Tt). We have shown that the effect of an increased Tr results in a modified geometry of the average path for hydrogen-bond switch and in decreased characteristic decay times for the reorientation of a water molecule. We also confirmed the validity of the extended jump model to describe hydrogen-bond dynamics under the studied non-equilibrium conditions.