Communication: Kinetic and pairing contributions in the dielectric spectra of electrolyte solutions. Sega, M., Kantorovich, S., S., Holm, C., & Arnold, A. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 6, 2014.
Communication: Kinetic and pairing contributions in the dielectric spectra of electrolyte solutions [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
In the late 1970s, Hubbard and Onsager predicted that adding salt to a polar solution would result in a reduced dielectric permittivity that arises from the unexpected tendency of solvent dipoles to align opposite to the applied field. Here we develop a novel non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation approach to determine this decrement accurately. Using a thermodynamic consistent all-atom force field we show that for an aqueous solution containing sodium chloride around 4.8 mol/l, this effect accounts for 12% of the total dielectric permittivity. The dielectric decrement can be strikingly different if a less accurate force field for the ions is used. Using the widespread GROMOS parameters, we observe in fact an increment of the dielectric permittivity rather than a decrement, caused by ion pairing and introduced by a too low dispersion force. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

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