Berlin 2015 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 23: Interfaces and Thin Films I (joint session CPP, DS)
CPP 23.3: Talk
Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 10:30–10:45, C 243
The surface tension anomaly of water — •Marcello Sega1, George Horvai2, and Pal Jedlovszky3 — 1University of Vienna, Institut für Computergestützte Biologische Chemie, Vienna, Austria — 2MTA-BME Research Group of Technical Analytical Chemistry, Budapest, Hungary — 3Department of Chemistry, EKF Training School, Eger, Hungary
The surface tension of water is characterised by an anomalous dependence on the temperature that manifests itself in the form of an inflection point [1]. So far, a microscopic explanation of this phenomenon was missing. By using intrinsic surface analysis on the liquid/vapour interface, simulated using six different water models, we managed to establish a link between the surface tension inflection and the topological properties of the hydrogen-bond network of the surface layer. We discovered that the inflection temperature coincides with the percolation threshold of the hydrogen bond network in the first molecular layer at the liquid/vapour interface. This provides strong evidence that the sudden breakup of the network, which takes place at the percolation threshold, is the underlying microscopic mechanism at the origin of this surface tension anomaly of water [2,3].
[1] J. S. Rowlinson and B. Widom. Molecular Theory of Capillarity; Dover Publications: Mineola, NY, 2002; p 11.
[2] M. Sega, G. Horvai and P. Jedlovszky, Langmuir 30, 2969 (2014)
[3] M. Sega, G. Horvai and P. Jedlovszky, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 054707 (2014)