Electric dipole moments of nanosolvated acid molecules in water clusters

The electric dipole moments of (H2O)nDCl (n=3-9) clusters have been measured by the beam-deflection method. Reflecting the (dynamical) charge distribution within the system, the dipole moment contributes information about the microscopic structure of nanoscale solvation. The addition of a DCl molecu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2015-01, Vol.114 (4), p.043401-043401, Article 043401
Main Authors: Guggemos, Nicholas, Slavíček, Petr, Kresin, Vitaly V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clusters
Dipole moment
Dynamical systems
Electric dipoles
Mathematical models
Motional
Nanostructure
Polarity
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Summary:The electric dipole moments of (H2O)nDCl (n=3-9) clusters have been measured by the beam-deflection method. Reflecting the (dynamical) charge distribution within the system, the dipole moment contributes information about the microscopic structure of nanoscale solvation. The addition of a DCl molecule to a water cluster results in a strongly enhanced susceptibility. There is evidence for a noticeable rise in the dipole moment occurring at n≈5-6. This size is consistent with predictions for the onset of ionic dissociation. Additionally, a molecular-dynamics model suggests that even with a nominally bound impurity an enhanced dipole moment can arise due to the thermal and zero-point motion of the proton and the water molecules. The experimental measurements and the calculations draw attention to the importance of fluctuations in defining the polarity of water-based nanoclusters and generally to the essential role played by motional effects in determining the response of fluxional nanoscale systems under realistic conditions.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.043401