Giuseppe Cassone

Proton conduction in water ices under an electric field.

We report on a first-principles study of the effects produced by a static electric field on proton conduction in ordinary hexagonal ice (phase Ih) and in its proton-ordered counterpart (phase XI). We performed ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of both phases and investigated the effects produced by the field on the structure of the material, with particular attention paid to the phenomenon of proton transfer. We observed that in ice Ih molecules start to dissociate for field intensities around 0.25 V/Å, as in liquid water, whereas fields stronger than 0.36 V/Å are needed to induce a permanent proton flow. In contrast, in ice XI, electric fields as intense as 0.22 V/Å are already able to induce and sustain, through correlated proton jumps, an ionic current; this behavior suggests, somewhat counterintuitively, that the ordering of protons favors the autoprotolysis phenomenon. However, the same is not true for static conductivities. In fact, both crystalline phases show an ohmic behavior in the conduction regime, but the conductivity of ice Ih turns out to be larger than that of ice XI. We finally discuss the qualitative and quantitative importance of the conspicuous concentration of ionic defects generated by intense electric fields in determining the value of the conductivity, also through a comparison with the experimental data available for saline ices.

Liquid methanol under a static electric field

We report on an ab initio molecular dynamics study of liquid methanol under the effect of a static electric field. We found that the hydrogen-bond structure of methanol is more robust and persistent for field intensities below the molecular dissociation threshold whose value (≈0.31 V/Å) turns out to be moderately larger than the corresponding estimate obtained for liquid water. A sustained ionic current, with ohmic current-voltage behavior, flows in this material for field intensities above 0.36 V/Å, as is also the case of water, but the resulting ionic conductivity (≈0.40 S cm(-1)) is at least one order of magnitude lower than that of water, a circumstance that evidences a lower efficiency of proton transfer processes. We surmise that this study may be relevant for the understanding of the properties and functioning of technological materials which exploit ionic conduction, such as direct-methanol fuel cells and Nafion membranes.

Effect of Electric Field Orientation on the Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Water Ices: An Ab-initio Study

We present a first-principles study of the properties of ordinary hexagonal ice (phase I(h)) and of its proton-ordered version (phase XI) under the action of static electric fields. We compute the mechanical response to the field in addition to the ionic current-voltage diagrams; we also analyze several other microscopic aspects of the proton transfer mechanism, with particular emphasis on the role played by the oxygen sublattice in driving molecular dissociation. We further study the topological aspects of the mechanical and electrical responses by orienting the external field along two different crystalline directions in both ice samples. At variance with ice Ih, ice XI displays an anisotropic behavior in the range of explored field intensities. In fact, when the direction of the field coincides with the ferroelectric axis, sustained molecular dissociation and proton transfer events are both observed just beyond a given field intensity; instead, the two processes exhibit different activation thresholds when the field is oriented along another symmetry axis. The underlying mechanism of molecular dissociation appears to be the same in solid and liquid water independently of the direction of the field.

Novel electrochemical route to cleaner fuel dimethyl ether

Methanol, the simplest alcohol, and dimethyl ether, the simplest ether, are central compounds in the search for alternative “green” combustion fuels. In fact, they are generally considered as the cornerstones of the envisaged “Methanol Economy” scenario, as they are able to efficiently produce energy in an environmentally friendly manner. However, despite a massive amount of research in this field, the synthesis of dimethyl ether from liquid methanol has never so far been reported. Here we present a computational study, based on ab initio Molecular Dynamics, which suggests a novel synthesis route to methanol dehydration – leading thus to the dimethyl ether synthesis – through the application of strong electric fields. Besides proving the impressive catalytic effects afforded by the field, our calculations indicate that the obtained dimethyl ether is stable and that it can be progressively accumulated thanks to the peculiar chemical pathways characterising the methanol reaction network under electric field. These results suggest that the experimental synthesis of dimethyl ether from liquid methanol could be achieved, possibly in the proximity of field emitter tips.

Dust Motions in Magnetized Turbulence: Source of Chemical Complexity

Notwithstanding manufacture of complex organic molecules from impacting cometary and icy planet surface analogues is well-established, dust grain-grain collisions driven by turbulence in interstellar or circumstellar regions may represent a parallel chemical route toward the shock synthesis of prebiotically relevant species. Here we report on a study, based on the multi-scale shock-compression technique combined with ab initio molecular dynamics approaches, where the shock-waves-driven chemistry of mutually colliding isocyanic acid (HNCO) containing icy grains has been simulated by first-principles. At the shock wave velocity threshold triggering the chemical transformation of the sample (7 km/s), formamide is the first synthesized species representing thus the spring-board for the further complexification of the system. In addition, upon increasing the shock impact velocity, formamide is formed in progressively larger amounts. More interestingly, at the highest velocity considered (10 km/s), impacts drive the production of diverse carbon-carbon bonded species. In addition to glycine, the building block of alanine (i.e., ethanimine) and one of the major components of a plethora of amino-acids including, e.g., asparagine, cysteine, and leucine (i.e., vinylamine) have been detected after shock compression of samples containing the most widespread molecule in the universe (H2) and the simplest compound bearing all the primary biogenic elements (HNCO). The present results indicate novel chemical pathways toward the chemical complexity typical of interstellar and circumstellar regions.

Ionic diffusion and proton transfer of MgCl2 and CaCl2 aqueous solutions: an ab initio study under electric field

ABSTRACT We report on a series of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations on MgCl and CaCl aqueous solutions subjected to the effect of static electric fields. The diffusion properties of the solvated cationic species have been investigated both in the low-to-moderate field regime and for intense field strengths, where correlated proton transfers between the water molecules take place. Albeit the Grotthuss-like motion of the protons H dramatically affects the standard relative mobility of monovalent cations such as Li, Na, and K [Phys Chem Chem Phys 2017;19:20420], here we demonstrate that the rule ‘the bigger the cation the higher its mobility’ is preserved for divalent cations – such as Mg and Ca – even when a sustained protonic current is established by the field action. Notwithstanding the presence of charged particles anticipates the field threshold of the molecular dissociation of water from 0.35 V/Å to 0.25 V/Å, such a shift does not depend on the nominal charge the cations hold. Protons flow more easily in the MgCl solution (=2.3 S/cm) rather than in the CaCl (=1.7 S/cm) electrolyte solution because of a twofold reason. Firstly, Ca, being larger than Mg, more strongly hampers the propagation of a charge defect of the same sign (i.e. H). Secondly, we demonstrate that the mobility of Ca is sizably higher than that of Mg. This way, by spanning more efficiently the aqueous environment, Ca further inhibits the proton transfers along the H-bonded network. Finally, the protonic conduction efficiency is inversely proportional both to the ionic radii and to the nominal charge of the cations present in solution.