Voltage equilibration for reactive atomistic simulations of electrochemical processes

Nicolas Christophe Orlando Onofrio, Alejandro Strachan

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

51 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We introduce electrochemical dynamics with implicit degrees of freedom (EChemDID), a model to describe electrochemical driving force in reactive molecular dynamics simulations. The method describes the equilibration of external electrochemical potentials (voltage) within metallic structures and their effect on the self-consistent partial atomic charges used in reactive molecular dynamics. An additional variable assigned to each atom denotes the local potential in its vicinity and we use fictitious, but computationally convenient, dynamics to describe its equilibration within connected metallic structures on-the-fly during the molecular dynamics simulation. This local electrostatic potential is used to dynamically modify the atomic electronegativities used to compute partial atomic changes via charge equilibration. Validation tests show that the method provides an accurate description of the electric fields generated by the applied voltage and the driving force for electrochemical reactions. We demonstrate EChemDID via simulations of the operation of electrochemical metallization cells. The simulations predict the switching of the device between a high-resistance to a low-resistance state as a conductive metallic bridge is formed and resistive currents that can be compared with experimental measurements. In addition to applications in nanoelectronics, EChemDID could be useful to model electrochemical energy conversion devices.
Original languageEnglish
Article number054109
JournalJournal of Chemical Physics
Volume143
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2015
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Voltage equilibration for reactive atomistic simulations of electrochemical processes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this