Ring polymer molecular dynamics(RPMD)calculations for the C(^(1)D)+H_(2)reaction are performed on the Zhang-Ma-Bian ab initio potential energy surfaces(PESs)recently constructed by our group,which are unique in very g...Ring polymer molecular dynamics(RPMD)calculations for the C(^(1)D)+H_(2)reaction are performed on the Zhang-Ma-Bian ab initio potential energy surfaces(PESs)recently constructed by our group,which are unique in very good descriptions of the regions around conical intersections and of van der Waals(vdW)interactions.The calculated reaction thermal rate coefficients are in very good agreement with the latest experimental results.The rate coefficients obtained from the ground˜a^(1)A′ZMB-a PES are much larger than those from the previous RKHS PES,which can be attributed to that the vdW saddles on our PESs have very different dynamical effects from the vdW wells on the previous PESs,indicating that the RPMD approach is able to include dynamical effects of the topological structures caused by vdW interactions.The importance of the excited˜b^(1)A′′ZMB-b PES and quantum effects in the title reaction is also underscored.展开更多
The static and dynamic properties of a system of end-grafted flexible ring polymer chains grafted to a flat substrate and exposed to a good solvent are studied by using a molecular dynamics method. The monomers are de...The static and dynamic properties of a system of end-grafted flexible ring polymer chains grafted to a flat substrate and exposed to a good solvent are studied by using a molecular dynamics method. The monomers are described by a coarse-grained bead-spring model. Varying the grafting density p and the degree of polymerization or chain length N, we obtain the density profiles of monomers, study the structural properties of the chain （radius of gyration, bond orientational parameters, etc.）, and also present the dynamic characteristics such as chain energy and bond force. Compared with a linear polymer brush, the ring polymer brush exhibits different static and dynamic properties for moderate or short chain length, while it behaves like linear polymer brush in the regime of long chain length.展开更多
The prototype tetra-atomic reaction F+H2O→HF+OH plays a significant role in both atmospheric and astronomical chemistry.In this work,thermal rate coefficients of this reaction are determined with the ring polymer mol...The prototype tetra-atomic reaction F+H2O→HF+OH plays a significant role in both atmospheric and astronomical chemistry.In this work,thermal rate coefficients of this reaction are determined with the ring polymer molecular dynamics(RPMD)method on a full-dimensional potential energy surface(PES).This PES is the most accurate one for the title reaction,as demonstrated by the correct barrier height and reaction energy,compared to the benchmark calculations by the focal point analysis and the high accuracy extrapolated ab initio thermochemistry methods.The RPMD rate coefficients are in excellent agreement with those calculated by the semiclassical transition state theory and a two-dimensional master equation technique,and some experimental measurements.As has been found in many RPMD applications,quantum effects,including tunneling and zero-point energy effects,can be efficiently and effectively captured by the RPMD method.In addition,the convergence of the results with respect to the number of beads is rapid,which is also consistent with previous RPMD applications.展开更多
Having highly tunable molecular topology is one of the most important characteristics of polymers that provides these materials with a wide range of interesting and unique properties.In particular,ring polymers exhibi...Having highly tunable molecular topology is one of the most important characteristics of polymers that provides these materials with a wide range of interesting and unique properties.In particular,ring polymers exhibit a number of properties that are markedly distinct from their linear counterparts.Here,we compare and contrast the glass formation of unknotted,nonconcatenated ring and linear polymer melts having variable molecular mass based on molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained model.After revealing an unusual property in the structure of small rings,we discuss the mass dependence of the structural relaxation time determined from the self-intermediate scattering function over a wide range of temperatures in both ring and linear polymers.As a general trend,we find that the characteristic temperatures(e.g.,the glass transition temperature)and fragility of glass formation increase with increasing molecular mass in linear polymers,but the mass dependences of these properties are rather weak in the family of ring polymer models considered,in broad accord with experimental measurements.Importantly,we show that the glass formation of ring polymers can quantitatively be described by the string model,a model that is broadly consistent with the entropy theory of glass formation and that takes the mass of string-like clusters as a molecular realization of the abstract cooperatively rearranging regions.This opens the possibility of applying the configurational entropy-based theories to describe the glass formation of ring polymers,once the ring topology is taken into account.展开更多
The dispersion behavior and spatial distribution of nanoparticles(NPs)in ring polymer melts are explored by using molecular dynamics(MD)simulations.As polymer-NP interactions increase,three general categories of polym...The dispersion behavior and spatial distribution of nanoparticles(NPs)in ring polymer melts are explored by using molecular dynamics(MD)simulations.As polymer-NP interactions increase,three general categories of polymer-mediated NP organization are observed,namely,contact aggregation,bridging,and steric dispersion,consistent with the results of equivalent linear ones in previous studies.In the case of direct contact aggregation among NPs,the explicit aggregation-dispersion transition of NPs in ring polymer melts can be induced by increasing the chain stiffness or applying a steady shear flow.Results further indicate that NPs can achieve an optimal dispersed state with the appropriate chain stiffness and shear flow.Moreover,shear flow cannot only improve the dispersion of NPs in ring polymer melts but also control the spatial distribution of NPs into a well-ordered structure.This improvement becomes more evident under stronger polymer-NP interactions.The observed induced-dispersion or ordered distribution of NPs may provide efficient access to the design and manufacture of high-performance polymer nanocomposites(PNCs).展开更多
Molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained bead-spring model of ring polymer brushes un- der compression are presented. Flexible polymer brushes are always disordered during compression, whereas semiflexible p...Molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained bead-spring model of ring polymer brushes un- der compression are presented. Flexible polymer brushes are always disordered during compression, whereas semiflexible polymer brushes tend to be ordered under sufficiently strong compression. Fur- ther, the polymer monomer density of the semiflexible polymer brush is very high near the brush surface, inducing a peak value of the free energy near the surface. Therefore~ when nanoparticles are compressed in semifiexible ring polymer brushes, they tend to exhibit a closely packed single-layer structure between the brush surface and the impenetrable wall, and a quasi-two-dimensional ordered structure near the brush surface is formed under strong compression. These findings provide a new approach to designing responsive applications.展开更多
Molecular dynamics simulations are useful tools to unveil molecular mechanisms of polymer phase separation,self-assembly,adsorption,and so on.Due to large molecular size and slow relaxation of the polymer chains,a gre...Molecular dynamics simulations are useful tools to unveil molecular mechanisms of polymer phase separation,self-assembly,adsorption,and so on.Due to large molecular size and slow relaxation of the polymer chains,a great amount of issues related to large-distance chain displacement cannot be tackled easily with conventional molecular dynamic simulations.Systematic coarse-graining and enhanced sampling methods are two types of improvements that can boost spatiotemporal scales in polymer simulations.We present two typical ways to obtain the coarse-graining potential either by fitting to correct liquid structures or by fitting to available thermodynamic properties of polymer systems.The newly proposed anisotropic coarse-grained particle model can be used to describe aggregation and assembly of polymeric building blocks from disk-like micelles to Janus particles.We also present a stochastic polymerization model combined with coarse-grained simulations to investigate the problems strongly influenced by the coupling of polymerization and excluded volume effects.Finally,a facile implementation of integrated tempering sampling method is illustrated to be very efficient on bypassing local energy minima and having access to true equilibrium polymer structures.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.21773251 and No.21973098)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS(No.2018045)the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences。
文摘Ring polymer molecular dynamics(RPMD)calculations for the C(^(1)D)+H_(2)reaction are performed on the Zhang-Ma-Bian ab initio potential energy surfaces(PESs)recently constructed by our group,which are unique in very good descriptions of the regions around conical intersections and of van der Waals(vdW)interactions.The calculated reaction thermal rate coefficients are in very good agreement with the latest experimental results.The rate coefficients obtained from the ground˜a^(1)A′ZMB-a PES are much larger than those from the previous RKHS PES,which can be attributed to that the vdW saddles on our PESs have very different dynamical effects from the vdW wells on the previous PESs,indicating that the RPMD approach is able to include dynamical effects of the topological structures caused by vdW interactions.The importance of the excited˜b^(1)A′′ZMB-b PES and quantum effects in the title reaction is also underscored.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50873083 and 10974162)
文摘The static and dynamic properties of a system of end-grafted flexible ring polymer chains grafted to a flat substrate and exposed to a good solvent are studied by using a molecular dynamics method. The monomers are described by a coarse-grained bead-spring model. Varying the grafting density p and the degree of polymerization or chain length N, we obtain the density profiles of monomers, study the structural properties of the chain （radius of gyration, bond orientational parameters, etc.）, and also present the dynamic characteristics such as chain energy and bond force. Compared with a linear polymer brush, the ring polymer brush exhibits different static and dynamic properties for moderate or short chain length, while it behaves like linear polymer brush in the regime of long chain length.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.21573027)
文摘The prototype tetra-atomic reaction F+H2O→HF+OH plays a significant role in both atmospheric and astronomical chemistry.In this work,thermal rate coefficients of this reaction are determined with the ring polymer molecular dynamics(RPMD)method on a full-dimensional potential energy surface(PES).This PES is the most accurate one for the title reaction,as demonstrated by the correct barrier height and reaction energy,compared to the benchmark calculations by the focal point analysis and the high accuracy extrapolated ab initio thermochemistry methods.The RPMD rate coefficients are in excellent agreement with those calculated by the semiclassical transition state theory and a two-dimensional master equation technique,and some experimental measurements.As has been found in many RPMD applications,quantum effects,including tunneling and zero-point energy effects,can be efficiently and effectively captured by the RPMD method.In addition,the convergence of the results with respect to the number of beads is rapid,which is also consistent with previous RPMD applications.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.22222307 and 21973089)。
文摘Having highly tunable molecular topology is one of the most important characteristics of polymers that provides these materials with a wide range of interesting and unique properties.In particular,ring polymers exhibit a number of properties that are markedly distinct from their linear counterparts.Here,we compare and contrast the glass formation of unknotted,nonconcatenated ring and linear polymer melts having variable molecular mass based on molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained model.After revealing an unusual property in the structure of small rings,we discuss the mass dependence of the structural relaxation time determined from the self-intermediate scattering function over a wide range of temperatures in both ring and linear polymers.As a general trend,we find that the characteristic temperatures(e.g.,the glass transition temperature)and fragility of glass formation increase with increasing molecular mass in linear polymers,but the mass dependences of these properties are rather weak in the family of ring polymer models considered,in broad accord with experimental measurements.Importantly,we show that the glass formation of ring polymers can quantitatively be described by the string model,a model that is broadly consistent with the entropy theory of glass formation and that takes the mass of string-like clusters as a molecular realization of the abstract cooperatively rearranging regions.This opens the possibility of applying the configurational entropy-based theories to describe the glass formation of ring polymers,once the ring topology is taken into account.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.21674082 and 21973070)the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province(No.LY19B040006),China。
文摘The dispersion behavior and spatial distribution of nanoparticles(NPs)in ring polymer melts are explored by using molecular dynamics(MD)simulations.As polymer-NP interactions increase,three general categories of polymer-mediated NP organization are observed,namely,contact aggregation,bridging,and steric dispersion,consistent with the results of equivalent linear ones in previous studies.In the case of direct contact aggregation among NPs,the explicit aggregation-dispersion transition of NPs in ring polymer melts can be induced by increasing the chain stiffness or applying a steady shear flow.Results further indicate that NPs can achieve an optimal dispersed state with the appropriate chain stiffness and shear flow.Moreover,shear flow cannot only improve the dispersion of NPs in ring polymer melts but also control the spatial distribution of NPs into a well-ordered structure.This improvement becomes more evident under stronger polymer-NP interactions.The observed induced-dispersion or ordered distribution of NPs may provide efficient access to the design and manufacture of high-performance polymer nanocomposites(PNCs).
文摘Molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained bead-spring model of ring polymer brushes un- der compression are presented. Flexible polymer brushes are always disordered during compression, whereas semiflexible polymer brushes tend to be ordered under sufficiently strong compression. Fur- ther, the polymer monomer density of the semiflexible polymer brush is very high near the brush surface, inducing a peak value of the free energy near the surface. Therefore~ when nanoparticles are compressed in semifiexible ring polymer brushes, they tend to exhibit a closely packed single-layer structure between the brush surface and the impenetrable wall, and a quasi-two-dimensional ordered structure near the brush surface is formed under strong compression. These findings provide a new approach to designing responsive applications.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(2012CB821500)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21025416,50930001)
文摘Molecular dynamics simulations are useful tools to unveil molecular mechanisms of polymer phase separation,self-assembly,adsorption,and so on.Due to large molecular size and slow relaxation of the polymer chains,a great amount of issues related to large-distance chain displacement cannot be tackled easily with conventional molecular dynamic simulations.Systematic coarse-graining and enhanced sampling methods are two types of improvements that can boost spatiotemporal scales in polymer simulations.We present two typical ways to obtain the coarse-graining potential either by fitting to correct liquid structures or by fitting to available thermodynamic properties of polymer systems.The newly proposed anisotropic coarse-grained particle model can be used to describe aggregation and assembly of polymeric building blocks from disk-like micelles to Janus particles.We also present a stochastic polymerization model combined with coarse-grained simulations to investigate the problems strongly influenced by the coupling of polymerization and excluded volume effects.Finally,a facile implementation of integrated tempering sampling method is illustrated to be very efficient on bypassing local energy minima and having access to true equilibrium polymer structures.
