Molecular dynamics simulation of the aqueous solutions of urea of seven different concentrations (including neat water as a reference system) has been performed on the isothermal-isobaric (N,p,T) ensemble. The ability of the urea molecules of self-association is investigated by means of the method of Voronoi polyhedra. For this purpose, all the analyses are repeated by removing one of the two components from the sample configurations and considering only the other one. In this way, the analysis of self-aggregation is reduced to the analysis of voids, a problem that can routinely be addressed by means of Voronoi analysis. The obtained results show that the urea molecules exhibit self-association behavior, which is found to be the strongest at the urea mole fraction of 0.23. However, the size of these urea aggregates is found to be rather limited; on average, they are built up by 3–4 molecules, and never exceed the size of 20–25 molecules.

The molecular level properties of the liquid/liquid interface between water and CCl₄ are analysed in detail on the basis of molecular dynamics computer simulation. This analysis requires a full list of the molecules that are right at the interface in both phases. Such a list can be provided by the novel method for identifying truly interfacial molecules (ITIM). The full list of the truly interfacial molecules various properties (e.g., width, molecular level roughness) of the interface can be meaningfully analysed. The residence time of the molecules at the interface, the percolation of the water molecules at the interfacial layer as well as in the second layer beneath the surface, the preferred orientations of the interfacial water molecules and the dependence of these orientational preferences on the local curvature of the interface are also analysed and discussed in detail.

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations are used to determine water adsorption on prototypical organic surfaces as a function of relative humidity at 300 K. Three model surfaces formed by well-ordered self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiolate chains on gold are investigated: (i) a smooth hydrophobic surface of methyl–terminated C₇–CH₃ SAM; (ii) a rough hydrophobic surface of randomly mixed two-component SAM, composed of equal fractions of C₅–CH₃ and C₇–CH₃ chains (C₅/C₇–CH₃ SAM); and (iii) a smooth hydrophilic surface of carboxyl–terminated C₇–COOH SAM. The all atom CHARMM22 force field is used for the SAM chains together with the SPC/E model for water. No noticeable water adsorption is observed on the smooth hydrophobic surface up to saturation. The mild surface roughness introduced by the uneven chain length of the two components constituting the C₅/C₇–CH₃ SAM has no significant effect on the surface hydrophobicity, and the rough hydrophobic surface also remains dry up to the point when water condensation occurs. In contrast, water readily adsorbs onto the hydrophilic surface by forming hydrogen bonds with the COOH groups of the substrate. In addition, hydrogen bonding with pre-adsorbed water molecules contributes to the mechanism of water uptake. Under low humidity conditions, water is present on the hydrophilic surface as individual molecules or small water clusters and, with increasing relative humidity, the surface coverage grows continuously beyond a monolayer formation. The adsorbed water film is observed to be rather inhomogeneous with patches of bare surface exposed. The amount of water constituting a stable adsorption layer prior to condensation is estimated to consist of about 2–5 molecular layers. Detailed analysis of the simulation results is used to obtain important insights into the structure and energetics of water adsorbed on highly oxidized organic surfaces exposed to ambient air of increasing relative humidity.