Bulk Ionic Screening Lengths from Extremely Large-Scale Molecular Dynamics Simulations

12 November 2020, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Recent experiments have reported anomalously large screening lengths of interactions between charged surfaces confining concentrated electrolytes and ionic liquids. Termed underscreening, this effect was ascribed to bulk properties of dense ionic systems. Herein, we study bulk ionic screening with extremely large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, allowing us to assess the range of distances relevant to the experiments. Our results yield two screening lengths satisfying distinct scaling relations. However, with an accuracy of 10^-5 kT in interionic potentials of mean force, we find no signs of underscreening, suggesting that other than bulk effects might be at play in the experiments.

Keywords

electrostatic screening
underscreening
concentrated electrolytes
ionic liquids
molecular dynamics

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