Structure and Dynamics of the Magnetite(001)/Water Interface from Molecular Dynamics Simulations Based on a Neural Network Potential

Author(s)
Salvatore Romano, Pablo Montero de Hijes, Matthias Meier, Georg Kresse, Cesare Franchini, Christoph Dellago
Abstract

The magnetite/water interface is commonly found in nature and plays a crucial role in various technological applications. However, our understanding of its structural and dynamical properties at the molecular scale remains still limited. In this study, we developed an efficient Behler-Parrinello neural network potential (NNP) for the magnetite/water system, paying particular attention to the accurate generation of reference data with density functional theory. Using this NNP, we performed extensive molecular dynamics simulations of the magnetite (001) surface across a wide range of water coverages, from single molecules to bulk water. Our simulations revealed several new ground states of low coverage water on the Subsurface Cation Vacancy (SCV) model and yielded a density profile of water at the surface that exhibits marked layering. By calculating mean square displacements, we obtained quantitative information on the diffusion of water molecules on the SCV for different coverages, revealing significant anisotropy. Additionally, our simulations provided qualitative insights into the dissociation mechanisms of water molecules at the surface.

Organisation(s)
Computational and Soft Matter Physics, Computational Materials Physics
External organisation(s)
VASP Software GmbH, University of Bologna
Journal
Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
Volume
21
Pages
1951-1960
No. of pages
10
ISSN
1549-9618
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.11538
Publication date
02-2025
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103043 Computational physics, 103015 Condensed matter, 103006 Chemical physics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Computer Science Applications, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/d7cf912e-3c33-47f6-aa05-ccaef5f69997