The grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo method applied to electrolyte solutions

Abstract

A grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo method is developed for application to electrolyte solutions. The method proves to be of comparable accuracy and speed to the conventional NVT Monte Carlo method for electrolytes but has the added advantage of being able to fix the chemical potential. This latter point is vital for the study of surface phenomena. Application of the method to 1:1 and 2:2 primitive model electrolytes is made as is a comparison with the results of approximate statistical mechanical treatments.