Structure and electric properties of the hydration shell of a singly charged chloride ion in a nanopore with hydrophilic walls

Abstract

The effect of hydrophilic walls on the structure of the hydration shell of a ion is studied in terms of the model flat nanopore in contact with water vapors at room temperature by the Monte Carlo computerassisted simulations. In the field of hydrophilic walls, the hydration shell falls into two parts: the ion-enveloping part and the molecular-film spots spread over the wall surface above and under the ion. Both parts have the pronounced radial-layered structure. The three-dimensional scheme of distribution of the averaged local shell density represents a system of conical coaxial layers expanding in the direction from wall to ion. The effect of forcing out the ion from its own hydration shell is also observed for hydrophilic walls. The specific electric polarizability of the shell is strongly anisotropic. Its longitudinal component is several times larger than the transversal component and behaves nonmonotonically as the hydration shell grows, passing through the maximum. The molecular order near the walls is characterized by the preferential orientation of the molecule plane in parallel to the wall plane and the turn of symmetry axes of molecules in the direction parallel to the normal to the pore plane in the vicinity of the ion.