The adsorption of H atoms and their recombination to form an H₂ molecule on slab models of the crystalline Mg₂SiO₄ forsterite (001) and (110) surfaces was studied by means of quantum mechanical calculations based on periodic density functional theory (DFT). Present results are compared with those previously reported for the most stable (010) surface, showing the relevance of the surface morphology and their stability on the H₂ formation. Different H chemisorption states were identified, mostly on the outermost O atoms of the surfaces. In agreement with the higher instability of the (001) and (110) surfaces, the calculated adsorption energies are larger than those for the (010) surface. Computed energy barriers for the H hopping on these surfaces are exceedingly high to occur at the very low temperatures of deep space. For the adsorption of two H atoms, the most stable complexes are those in which the H atoms form Mg-H and SiOH surface groups. From these complexes, we did not identify energetically feasible paths for H₂ formation through a Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism on the (001) surface because the initial states are more stable than the final products. However, on the (110) surface one path was found to be exoergic with very low energy barriers. This differs to that observed for the (010) surface, for which two feasible Langmuir–Hinshelwood-based channels were identified. H₂ formation through the Eley–Rideal mechanism was also simulated, in which an incoming H atom impinges on a pre-adsorbed H atom at the (001) and (110) surfaces in a barrierless way.

Molecular-dynamics simulations for silicon, hydrogen- and hydroxyl-terminated silicon in contact with liquid water, at 220 and 300 K, display water-density ‘ordering’ along the laboratory z-axis, emphasising the hydrophobicity of the different systems and the position of this first adsorbed layer. Density of states (DOS) of the oxygen and proton velocity correlation functions (VACFs) and infrared (IR) spectra of the first monolayer of adsorbed water, calculated via Fourier transformation, indicate similarities to more confined, ice-like dynamical behaviour (redolent of ice). It was observed that good qualitative agreement is obtained between the DOS for this first layer in all systems. The DOS for the lower-frequency zone indicates that for the interface studied (i.e., the first layer near the surface), the water molecules try to organise in a similar form, and that this form is intermediate between liquid water and ice. For IR spectra, scrutiny of the position of the highest-intensity peaks for the stretching and bending bands indicate that such water molecules in the first solvating layer are organised in an intermediate fashion between ice and liquid water.

Silicates are among the most abundant and important inorganic materials, not only in the Earth’s crust, but also in the interstellar medium in the form of micro/nanoparticles or embedded in the matrices of comets, meteorites, and other asteroidal bodies. Although the crystalline phases of silicates are indeed present in nature, amorphous forms are also highly abundant. Here, we report a theoretical investigation of the structural, dielectric, and vibrational properties of the amorphous bulk for forsterite (Mg₂SiO₄) as a silicate test case by a combined approach of classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for structure evolution and periodic quantum mechanical Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations for electronic structure analysis. Using classical MD based on an empirical partial charge rigid ionic model within a melt-quenching scheme at different temperatures performed with the GULP 4.0 code, amorphous bulk structures for Mg₂SiO₄ were generated using the crystalline phase as the initial guess. This has been done for bulk structures with three different unit cell sizes, adopting a super-cell approach; that is, 1 × 1 × 2, 2 × 1 × 2, and 2 × 2 × 2. The radial distribution functions indicated a good degree of amorphization of the structures. Periodic B3LYP-geometry optimizations performed with the CRYSTAL14 code on the generated amorphous systems were used to analyze their structure; to calculate their high-frequency dielectric constants (ε_∞); and to simulate their IR, Raman, and reflectance spectra, which were compared with the experimental and theoretical crystalline Mg₂SiO₄. The most significant changes of the physicochemical properties of the amorphous systems compared to the crystalline ones are presented and discussed (e.g., larger deviations in the bond distances and angles, broadening of the IR bands, etc.), which are consistent with their disordered nature. It is also shown that by increasing the unit cell size, the bulk structures present a larger degree of amorphization.

By using time-of-flight neutron spectroscopy with polarization analysis, we have separated coherent and incoherent contributions to the scattering of deuterated tetrahydrofuran in a wide scattering vector (Q)-range from meso- to inter-molecular length scales. The results are compared with those recently reported for water to address the influence of the nature of inter-molecular interactions (van der Waals vs hydrogen bond) on the dynamics. The phenomenology found is qualitatively similar in both systems. Both collective and self-scattering functions are satisfactorily described in terms of a convolution model that considers vibrations, diffusion, and a Q-independent mode. We observe a crossover in the structural relaxation from being dominated by the Q-independent mode at the mesoscale to being dominated by diffusion at inter-molecular length scales. The characteristic time of the Q-independent mode is the same for collective and self-motions and, contrary to water, faster and with a lower activation energy (≈1.4 Kcal/mol) than the structural relaxation time at inter-molecular length scales. This follows the macroscopic viscosity behavior. The collective diffusive time is well described by the de Gennes narrowing relation proposed for simple monoatomic liquids in a wide Q-range entering the intermediate length scales, in contraposition to the case of water.

We find that water morphology within melanin is purely interfacial in nature, even at high water contents. This morphology brings into question the proton conduction mechanism within melanin with implications or other conductive biomaterials.