Proton Traffic Jam: Effect of Nanoconfinement and Acid Concentration on Proton Hopping Mechanism.

ABSTRACT: The properties of the water network in concentrated HCl acid pools in nanometer-sized reverse nonionic micelles were probed with TeraHertz absorption, dielectric relaxation spectroscopy, and reactive force field simulations capable of describing proton hopping mechanisms. We identify that only at a critical micelle size of W₀ =9 do solvated proton complexes form in the water pool, accompanied by a change in mechanism from Grotthuss forward shuttling to one that favors local oscillatory hopping. This is due to a preference for H⁺ and Cl^- ions to adsorb to the micelle interface, together with an acid concentration effect that causes a "traffic jam" in which the short-circuiting of the hydrogen-bonding motif of the hydronium ion decreases the forward hopping r

SUBMITTER: Adams EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9293324 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature