Molecular hydrogen solvated in water--A computational study.

Abstract

The aqueous hydrogen molecule is studied with molecular dynamics simulations at ambient temperature and pressure conditions, using a newly developed flexible and polarizable H2 molecule model. The design and implementation of this model, compatible with an existing flexible and polarizable force field for water, is presented in detail. The structure of the hydration layer suggests that first-shell water molecules accommodate the H2 molecule without major structural distortions and two-dimensional, radial-angular distribution functions indicate that as opposed to strictly tangential, the orientation of these water molecules is such that the solute is solvated with one of the free electron pairs of H2O. The calculated self-diffusion coefficient of H2(aq) agrees very well with experimental results and the time dependence of mean square displacement suggests the presence of caging on a time scale corresponding to hydrogen bond network vibrations in liquid water. Orientational correlation function of H2 experiences an extremely short-scale decay, making the H2-H2O interaction potential essentially isotropic by virtue of rotational averaging. The inclusion of explicit polarizability in the model allows for the calculation of Raman spectra that agree very well with available experimental data on H2(aq) under differing pressure conditions, including accurate reproduction of the experimentally noted trends with solute pressure or concentration.