Sensing polarization effects through the analysis of the effective C6 dispersion coefficients in NaCl solutions.

Abstract

Density functional theory based ab initio molecular dynamics is used to obtain microscopic details of the interactions in sodium chloride solutions. By following the changes in the atomic C6 coefficients under the Tkatchenko-Scheffler's scheme, we were able to identify two different coordination situations for the Cl(-) ion with significant different capabilities to perform dispersion interactions. This capability is enhanced when the ion-ion distance corresponds to the contact ion-pair situation. Also, the oxygen and hydrogen atoms of the water molecules change their aptitudes to interact through van der Waals like terms when they are close to the cation region of the ion-pair. These results have interesting implications on the design of force fields to model electrolyte solutions.