Molecular Dynamics Simulation for Surface and Transport Properties of Fluorinated Silica Nanoparticles in Water or Decane: Application to Gas Recovery Enhancement

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Determination of surface and transport properties of nanoparticles (NPs) is essential for a variety of applications in enhanced oil and gas recoveries. In this paper, the impact of the surface chemistry of silica NPs on their hydro- and oleo-phobic properties as well as their transport properties are investigated in water or decane using molecular dynamics simulation. Trifluoromethyl or pentafluoroethyl groups as water and oil repellents are placed on the NPs. It is found that the density and residence time of liquid molecules around the NPs are modulated considerably with the existence of the functional groups on the NPs’ surfaces. Also, much larger density fluctuations for liquids close to the surface of the NPs are observed when the number of the groups on the NPs increases, indicating increased hydrophobicity. In addition, the diffusion coefficient of the NPs in either water or decane increases with increasing the number or length of the fluorocarbon chains, demonstrating non-Brownian behavior for the NPs. The surface chemistry imparts a considerable contribution on the diffusion coefficient of the NPs. Finally, potential of mean force calculations are undertaken. It is observed that the free energy of adsorption of the NPs on a mineral surface is more favorable than that of the aggregation of the NPs, which suggests the NPs adsorb preferably on the mineral surface.