Translational and rotational diffusion of dilute solid amorphous spherical nanocolloids by molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

Following on from our previous study (Heyes, D. M., Nuevo, M. J, and Morales, J. J., 1996, Molec. Phys., 88, 1503), molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out of translational and rotational diffusion of atomistically rough near-spherical solid Lennard-Jones (LJ) clusters immersed in a Weeks-Chandler-Andersen liquid solvent. A single cluster consisting of up to about 100LJ particles as part of an 8000 atom fluid system was considered in each case. The translational and rotational diffusion coefficients decrease with increasing cluster size and solvent density (roughly in proportion to the molar volume of the solvent). The simulations reveal that for clusters in excess of about 30LJ atoms there is a clear separation of timescales between angular velocity and orientation relaxation which adhere well to the small-step diffusion model encapsulated in Hubbard's relationship. For 100 atom clusters both the StokesEinstein (translation) and Stokes-Einstein-Debye (rotation) equations apply approximately. The small departures from these reference solutions indicate that the translational relaxation experiences a local viscosity in excess of the bulk value (typically by ∼ 30%), whereas rotational relaxation experiences a smaller viscosity than the bulk (typically by ∼ 30%) reasonably in accord with the Gierer-Wirtz model. Both of these observations are consistent with an observed layering of the liquid molecules next to the cluster observed in our previous study.